Every home in new £1.6m village development reserved for locals
A £1.6M affordable housing scheme where all the homes are allocated to people with a connection to the nearest village has been officially opened in North Yorkshire.
The development at Oswin Grove, which consists of five three-bedroom homes and six two-bedroom homes, was built on the site of a former sheltered housing scheme in Gilling West.
In an effort to keep the village community alive, all 11 homes have been allocated to people with a connection to Gilling West, either because they were already living elsewhere in the village, or work in the surrounding area.
The land was provided by the district council in Richmondshire, which was revealed yesterday to have the highest percentage of new homes in the region compared to government estimates of need. The Broadacres Housing Association scheme received a grant of £352,000 from Homes England.
Richmond MP Rishi Sunak was among the guests at the opening of the scheme and visited the home of Irene Nichol, one of the first residents to move in.
He said: “This is just the sort of development we need to meet the demand for affordable housing and I’m delighted that this is the second such Broadacres scheme I’ve been asked to open in recent months.
“Finding the appropriate sites in rural areas and developing them is challenging so I congratulate all the parties involved in making this happen.” On Saturday, launched a series called
highlighting how towns and villages in the region were ageing much more quickly than cities.