100 new Council homes set for Exeter

Published: 1 October 2019

One hundred new council houses look set to be built in Exeter over the next four years to meet housing need in the city.

Exeter City Council’s Executive is being asked to back an £18 million Council house building programme across four sites.

The homes will be built to energy efficient standards and will be a mix of one, two and three bedroom properties for both individuals, couples and families.

Building is already underway at Thornpark Rise, the site of a former garage, where nine three-bedroom houses are set to be completed early next year.

The other sites are:

• Bovemoors Lane – also a former garage site – where there is planning consent for ten three-bedroom family houses
• Hamlin Gardens – a former under-used parking area – where there is already planning consent for 21 new flats – a mix of one and two bedroom homes
• Vaughan Road – 60 new council homes + 30 to be sold on the open market. Design work is underway and a planning application is expected soon with a possible start date of Spring 2020

The new Vaughan Road homes will be built on land currently occupied by a former care home and twelve existing council homes which have come to the end of their life. Full consultation over this scheme has been carried out with local residents, culminating in a well-attended consultation event at which people had an opportunity to feedback via a dedicated website and survey.

Cllr Laura Wright, Lead Councillor for Council Housing Development & Services, said the government’s lifting of the borrowing cap had enabled the City Council to fund the new homes.

“We’re proud of the fact that despite the cap on borrowing, we have managed to build 67 new Council homes over the last ten years – all built to energy efficient standards.

“Now we want to build more and this programme will allow us to deliver 100 new Council homes over the next four years.”

Moving forward, the City Council is also looking at a more extensive list of potential development sites to build additional Council homes in the future.

Following the lifting of the borrowing cap, the Council is also looking at regeneration and retrofit opportunities across its housing stock and the possibility of extending and adding extra floors to some of its properties.

“This is positive news moving forward,” said Cllr Wright. “We are strongly committed to building new council houses across the city and ensuring that Exeter is a place where everybody has a home.”