SHG lettersSHG logo - link homePicture of a house
spacer Picture of a house
Village homes for locals get underway
Local people in one of Oxfordshire’s most expensive villages will soon be able to move into new affordable homes thanks to a rural housing initiative.

Contractors for Leadbitter Construction moved on site this week to start building eight homes in Cray’s Pond, Goring, to help stem the exodus of young couples forced to move out by rocketing house prices.

With hardly any homes fetching less than £300,000 in the area, the Oxfordshire Rural Housing Partnership (ORHP) – a consortium of Oxfordshire district councils and social landlords – designed the £1m scheme to fit in sympathetically with its surroundings.

ORHP Partner Sovereign Housing Association teamed up with Leadbitter Construction, and the homes should be ready by next spring, including two flats, and two for part-buy part-rent.

Sovereign Development Manager Mark Evans said: “More than half of residents in Oxfordshire live in villages, so these small schemes are vital to rejuvenate communities without building over the countryside. We are delighted to be able to offer people with local connections the chance to live where they were brought up.”

The ORHP worked closely with Goring Heath Parish Council to make sure the scheme fits in well with the existing community.

Over the next five years, the ORHP aims to provide 500 affordable homes in villages which have fewer than 3,000 residents. A similar scheme has just opened in Stonesfield, near Witney, and more are in the pipeline.

Published 28 June 2005
[Back to news archive] [Back to top]
 
link to iN business for neighbourhood web site
©2008 Sovereign Housing Group Limited (charitable). All rights reserved.