Approval sought for £380,000 affordable housing project in Scarborough

Scarborough Council’s cabinet is set to vote on the allocation of £381,170 of funding to build four affordable units of housing in the Woodlands area.

The funding comes from a £1.86m grant received by the authority in 2016 from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Community Housing Fund.

If approved, a local housing charity, Scarborough Flower Fund Homes (SFFH), would provide an equal amount of match funding to construct four bungalows.

The proposed site at Woodlands Grove is adjacent to an existing scheme called Flower Garth, which currently has 36 bungalows.

A planning application for the site is due to be determined this month and once approved, the charity will tender the project to several suitable local building contractors.

Flower Fund Homes has said that construction is anticipated to start in September 2023 and is set to take around nine months, with completion anticipated by June 2024.

SFFH was formed in 1969 and has developed 104 properties, all for rent, across five sites in Scarborough, Filey, Cayton, and Seamer.

The charity will allocate and manage the properties through its allocations policy including “local connection criteria” which aims to ensure that the properties will be allocated to local people in housing need.

Currently, there are at least 52 people on a waiting list for their current developments.

The council granted Flower Fund Homes £9,495 of feasibility funding in 2021 whilst the total project cost amounts to £762,340 including build costs, fees, and contingencies.

The proposed development of the four new homes would be the fifth community-led housing scheme in the borough through the Government’s Community Housing Fund and would bring the total number of new homes developed through the fund to 12.

According to a report prepared for the cabinet, the grant of £381,170 to SFFH represents “reasonable value for money” at £95,290 per unit in light of the “increased development costs that have arisen over the past 12-18 months”.

The cabinet will meet on Tuesday February 14 to decide on the plan which is recommended for approval.