CANVEY ENCLAVE RECEIVES A HOUSING BOOST

HOUSING association IDS has given fresh encouragement to Canvey Island’s new Chasidic community by investing in homes in the area.

The association has bought four houses to let to Charedi families looking to leave Stamford Hill, where there is a shortage of affordable property.

Suzanne Wolfe, IDS chief executive, said the association was “excited and delighted” by the project and was planning to buy a fifth house in the Essex estuary town.

“We completed on Monday,” she said. “We handed the keys to the first happy resident on Tuesday.”

Established last year, the community now encompasses 25 homes, as well as a communal and educational centre on the site of a former school.

Ms Wolfe said she had been impressed by the set-up on her two visits to Canvey.

In the summer, she attended a reception for the Charedi newcomers at the Oysterfleet Hotel, owned by Chris Fenwick, the manager of influential R&B band Dr Feelgood.

“I thought that Canvey residents are evidently embracing the new arrivals.”

After initial scepticism about the Canvey settlement, another housing association, Agudas Israel, is also backing the venture by buying homes there.

Joel Friedman, one of the founders of the Canvey Jewish community, said “it is a huge privilege to work with these respected housing associations and really encouraging.

“We can see the future working out well.”

SIMON ROCKER