Council approves £2.6m grant for Whitby development to build 49 affordable eco-homes
A £2.6m grant to support a large affordable housing development in Whitby has been given the go-ahead after years of planning.
North Yorkshire Council has approved the grant for the Broomfield Farm eco-homes development in Whitby, which will create 49 affordable homes.
At a meeting of the authority’s executive committee, members agreed to enter into a grant agreement with Brierley Homes for £2.6m from the Whitby Towns Fund.
Speaking at the meeting, the executive member for open to business, Coun Mark Crane said that plans had been scaled down from 60 homes to 49 and that Whitby residents were “supportive of the scheme”.
Executive member for housing, Coun Simon Myers, said the homes would use “90 per cent less carbon than the average home and be cheaper to run”.
If the project is granted planning permission next January, the homes are set to be completed by March 2027.
Approval of the grant comes more than three years after the development was chosen as a priority project for delivery through the Whitby Town Deal.
However, last February, the council was informed that the appointed developer MCI Developments had withdrawn from the project citing “viability issues”.
The authority decided that the loss of the project from the Town Deal programme would have had “a significant impact on the provision of affordable homes in Whitby” which has some of the highest affordable housing needs in North Yorkshire.
As such, the council worked to ensure a 100 per cent affordable housing scheme on the Broomfield’s Farm site and the landowner Keyland agreed to hold off on the sale of the site.
Brierley Homes, which will take over as the housing developer, has an “established partnership” with Broadacre Homes which will own and manage the homes on completion.
According to a report by officers, the average asking price for a house on the North Yorkshire coast is in the region of £300,000 – around 10 times the average local household income.
North Yorkshire Council said that the provision of one-bed homes in particular would help meet the needs of single persons and couples, for whom there is “currently a shortage of affordable homes locally, both in the social and private rented sector”.
Additionally, a range of two-, three-, and four-bed homes will meet the needs of local families, who are also affected by the lack of suitable affordable homes in the area.
A report noted: “As the development is situated close to both a primary school and a secondary school, it is in an ideal location for local families with school-age children.”
However, if the project is not completed, Whitby will lose its £2.6m investment from the Towns Fund.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive committee approved the development unanimously at its meeting on Tuesday, October 15.