Borough Life Spring 2006: Housing at a price you can afford
Council action is helping young people onto the property ladder.
This time last year ago, Borough Life reported how finding an affordable home was becoming increasingly difficult for local people.
Research revealed that average house prices in the borough had risen by 76% in the previous three years, meaning that first time buyers especially were finding it very difficult to gain a foothold in the market.
An influential committee of backbench councillors asked officers to come up with an ‘affordable housing’ policy as quickly as possible to address their concerns.
Now, following consultations with developers and other agencies, that policy is taking shape.
Wigan Council’s planning boss Martin Kimber explains: “An abundance of low-cost terraced housing and relatively low market prices once made local needs easy to satisfy.
“That’s not the case anymore and recent research has indicated a need for the building of over 100 affordable homes every year for the next five years.
“In future, a fifth of all developments of 25 or more dwellings, or on sites of one hectare or more, must be devoted to affordable housing unless there are very exceptional circumstances.”
It is expected that the types of affordable housing on offer will include rented accommodation provided by Registered Social Landlords (RSL), shared ownership and outright owner-occupancy. But Mr Kimber is keen to ensure that such properties do not suffer in comparison with their neighbours.
“We want to help provide homes people can afford, but we expect those homes to be built to the highest standards. Affordable homes should look no different from any others and we will work with developers to make sure this is the case.”