A £10m affordable housing scheme could be coming to Harwich, it has been revealed.

Negotiations are currently taking place with possible financial backers to develop Stanton Europark.

If successful, the deal would mean 166 homes would be built on the nine-acre site, and Harwich and Dovercourt residents would get first shot at occupying them.

Barry Lewis, chairman of Cornwall-based The Housing Foundation, which is behind the project, said: "We are hoping to do this but at this moment in time I have not concluded the negotiations on the land.

"We very much hope that this scheme will go forward but we are still negotiating with funders and it would be premature to get too excited."

Outline planning permission already exists for housing on the site which is near the Safeways supermarket.

The area is allocated for housing in the area's local plan. If the scheme goes ahead, the homes would remain as affordable housing for 999 years and be a major boost to the town.

The properties would first be offered to people who live in Harwich and Dovercourt and those on Tendring Council's waiting list within a two-mile radius of Harwich.

Then they would be offered to people who live in the district and who were born in the area. Lastly, after three months, the homes would be offered to anyone else.

They would be sold at less than the market value, and occupiers would be charged a minimal rent.

Andrew Purdy, of Land Research Limited, said his client, The Housing Foundation, was keen to develop the land.

The Housing Foundation, based in St Ives, has been behind many projects in London, the Midlands and the South-West, but the company has never worked on a project in East Anglia before.

Mr Lewis said he wanted to hear from families interested in the scheme.

For further details call The Housing Foundation on 01736 793355.

Aerial view - the proposed site at Harwich is on the top left of the picture, in the lighter rectangle

By Mark Beales

Reporter's e-mail: mark_beales@thisisessex.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.