Homes boost for Plymouth veterans and families

City's first council homes in 40 years

Three developments in Plymouth are providing homes for nearly 80 families as part of a council scheme to build at least 5,000 properties over the next five years.

The city’s ‘Plan for Homes’ includes Broadland Gardens at Plymstock – the first homes built by the council in 40 years.

The land, previously occupied by a disused youth centre, provides 10 new homes, four of which have already been sold and two reserved, Plymouth City Council’s cabinet has been told.

Cabinet member for housing Cllr Chris Penberthy (Lab, St Peter and the Waterfront) said that, rather unusually, the homes are built for sale rather than social housing, to show the market that low carbon, sustainable, high-quality homes could be constructed within the Plymouth “affordability grid”.

The two-to-four bed family homes are advertised online as a mix of terrace, semi-detached and detached properties with prices from £335,000.

Profits go back into building more affordable housing.

Affordable housing includes homes for sale or rent and is for people whose needs are not met by the private market.

The Sterling Project at Honicknowle, in partnership with housing provider LiveWest and homeless charity Alabare, is on the site of a former care home and doctors’ surgery.

Among the new residents are eight veterans who were involved in the constructed of the affordable homes for rent.

Cllr Penberthy said they had previously been living in sub-standard privately rented accommodation which was overcrowded but they could not afford to move.

He said the homes had been “transformative for the veterans and their families”.

The Sterling Project is providing 24 energy-efficient homes for rent.

Plymouth City Council sold the land for £1, decontaminated it and invested £400,000 as a contribution from the Plan for Homes investment fund.

The councillor said it is “a great partnership project”.

Construction at Colebrook Road, Plympton started before the pandemic but was delayed after the developer went bust.

It has now been restarted by different developers and will be completed over the next 18 months with 43 affordable homes, 20 of which will be for rent, 14 for shared ownership and nine for rent to buy – a scheme that offers properties at a discount to allow occupants to save for deposits to buy them.

Plymouth City Council contributed £300,000 to fill a funding gap for the project. Homes England has also put in cash.

“It just shows that with a bit of money and staff time we can resolve sites like this,” he said.

“We keep nibbling away at problems. We still need thousands more homes, so if developers want to get involved please get in touch as we want to deliver working partnerships.”

At the end of last year Plymouth City Council had more than 7,000 households on its housing waiting list and hundreds of families in temporary accommodation.