New flats to be offered only to young people

AN entire block of flats in Kingshurst is to be offered at an affordable rate exclusively for young people, council documents show. In a rare application, the 28 planned homes on Townsend Grove will be specifically aimed at young people who are ‘ready for independent living’.

The development, dubbed Lakeside, will be a mixture of 20 one-bed flats, four two-bed houses, and four one-bed maisonettes. Future residents would be supported and maintained by Solihull Community Housing on behalf of the council.

Documents claim the flats will be offered to young people from Solihull who have been deemed by local services as having the skills to manage their own tenancies. A support worker will be on site to help them build the skills they need to live independently.

The 20 one-bed apartments and maisonettes are set to be provided as social rent, which is essentially government-subsidised rent for people on lower incomes. The four two-bed homes will be offered as social rent, affordable rent or shared ownership.

Developer rg+p has included private gardens for the four houses in its plans as well as promising ‘high quality, energy efficient’ housing.

The earmarked location is a brownfield site in a residential part of Kingshurst. A block of flats built in 1963 currently sits there and will be demolished to make way for the new project.

Documents said ‘significant weight’ must be afforded to the economic, social and environmental benefits of the scheme.

Solihull Council received one objection, which raised concerns about anti-social behaviour. Council planners disagreed, saying the new arrivals would ‘contribute to the vibrancy’ of the area.

The council was set to discuss the development yesterday.