Projects to build the the first council homes in the borough for 20 years are now underway after the council appointed contractors for the five local authority new build schemes at the beginning of 2011.
It was in early 2010 that the council was awarded £4.3 million from the government's Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to build 80 homes across five sites in the borough: Wood Road, Lower Gornal, Tenacre Lane, Upper Gornal, Woodland Avenue, Quarry Bank, Norwood Road, Brierley Hill and Blackthorn Road, Wordsley.
Lettings plan
During May 2011 the council hosted a number of consultation events with local residents and stakeholders in the immediate surroundings of each site. They were invited to come along to the events and share their views on how they think the council should allocate these homes to prospective tenants.
:: more on local lettings plan
Additional background information
This amounted to a third of the overall £13 million awarded to West Midland local authorities. The council is matching the funding through land and capital contributions.
The funding allows affordable and energy efficient homes including two-storey apartments, bungalows and houses built in the borough. These will be built for people with general housing needs and some will be designed specifically for people with special needs such as wheelchair friendly bungalows.
All properties will be built to lifetime standards and code level 4 which is a higher environmental standard, which helps reduce CO2 emissions and exceeds what is currently being built in the private and social housing sectors.
