Work on affordable homes at Elvington ready to start

9:37am Wednesday 5th December 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

Anthony Hughes, Willow Design and Construction’s managing director, and private investor Roy Handley, of A1 Haulage, at the site in Elvington where work on the UK’s first, privately-funded, affordable housing scheme is set to start Anthony Hughes, Willow Design and Construction’s managing director, and private investor Roy Handley, of A1 Haulage, at the site in Elvington where work on the UK’s first, privately-funded, affordable housing scheme is set to start

THE building of 18 affordable homes in a village near York could begin soon in what is said to be the first project of its kind in the country.

The £2million estate at Elvington will consist entirely of affordable homes and will be built without financial assistance from grants.

Instead it will be funded by private investor Roy Handley, owner of trucking company A1 Haulage.

The houses will be made available through a housing association and building work will begin as soon as negotiations have finished between builders Willow Design & Construction and an unnamed housing association in Wetherby.

Willow managing director, Anthony Hughes said: “York and North Yorkshire, like most of the UK, is very short of affordable housing which faces rapidly increasing demand since the financial crash.

“Clearly there is a shortage of housing generally and house-building is a good way to boost the economy and so many trades are involved in the whole process.”

The 1.5-acre estate will have eight three-bedroom houses, five two-bedroom ones, one four-bedroom house and four two-bedroom bungalows, all with private parking, front and back gardens, a communal cycle shed, a play area and communal area.

A dozen of the properties will be offered to rent through a housing association while six will be offered for joint ownership between the housing association and the occupants.

Mr Hughes said: “We are very keen to start work on the site and estimate that the entire estate will be completed in 18 months time.

“We cannot start work and discharge our duty to the local authority until we have reached full agreement with a housing association.

“We are in advanced negotiations with a housing association in Wetherby and hope to reach an agreement in the next couple of weeks so that the scheme can proceed without further delay.”

Comments(17)

BL2 says...
10:11am Wed 5 Dec 12

Another housing plan on Green Belt Land that should never have gone through. I wonder if Yorkshire Water have finally received a suitable answer to their questions about drainage? There is not enough capacity currently for this site and the plans put forward did not contain information about this. The developers had also not responded to the queries. Despite this, York Council approved it! There is no need for these houses at all.

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Back and Beyond says...
11:16am Wed 5 Dec 12

I hope the construction company don't make to much noise for the sensitive villagers of Elvington.

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meme says...
11:32am Wed 5 Dec 12

How can this work finacially unless the land was free from CoYC or A1 haulage are very generous benefactors?
Perhaps someone can answer this?

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Ichabod76 says...
12:37pm Wed 5 Dec 12

meme wrote:
How can this work finacially unless the land was free from CoYC or A1 haulage are very generous benefactors?
Perhaps someone can answer this?
I have known Roy for many years and he is just a very generous man
I think he already owned the land but I'm not sure

Bravo Roy wish there were more like you

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meme says...
3:09pm Wed 5 Dec 12

some people are v generous and if this is the case here then I agree...............
... a big Bravo to Roy of A1 haulage for doing something for others and losing money in the process

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Scarlet Pimpernel says...
3:59pm Wed 5 Dec 12

Why haven't the Council made a comment/quote about this, in the Press article ?

One would imagine that Coun Simpson-Laing would be shouting from the rooftops about this........ unless there is something dodgy about it ?

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Scarlet Pimpernel says...
4:10pm Wed 5 Dec 12

Ichabod76 wrote:
meme wrote: How can this work finacially unless the land was free from CoYC or A1 haulage are very generous benefactors? Perhaps someone can answer this?
I have known Roy for many years and he is just a very generous man I think he already owned the land but I'm not sure Bravo Roy wish there were more like you
Roy Handley has been a very successful businessman, with his plant and haulage business and property investments, but I was not aware that he was/is a philanthropist ?

Roy is to be congratulated though, as even Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust only provided 40% affordable at Derwenthorpe, with the land sold to them on the cheap by the Council, for a shade more than £5m, and with a grant from the HCA of c.£8m. How can Roy provide 100% affordable when JRHT can't ?

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idlehousewife says...
4:48pm Wed 5 Dec 12

This project will simply exacerbate the parking problem outside the primary school. There is an accident waiting to happen here as the main road and Dauby Lane are already difficult to navigate at certain times of day. Why do parents have to park their cars? Why can't they simply drop off their children if they insist on driving them to school in any case?

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Gyspsy Power says...
5:36pm Wed 5 Dec 12

idlehousewife wrote:
This project will simply exacerbate the parking problem outside the primary school. There is an accident waiting to happen here as the main road and Dauby Lane are already difficult to navigate at certain times of day. Why do parents have to park their cars? Why can't they simply drop off their children if they insist on driving them to school in any case?
Lazy parents should be walking to school with their kids. No wonder we have a generation of fatties

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Scarlet Pimpernel says...
7:37pm Wed 5 Dec 12

BL2 wrote:
Another housing plan on Green Belt Land that should never have gone through. I wonder if Yorkshire Water have finally received a suitable answer to their questions about drainage? There is not enough capacity currently for this site and the plans put forward did not contain information about this. The developers had also not responded to the queries. Despite this, York Council approved it! There is no need for these houses at all.
Very interesting.

Recently a planning application for only two houses was found invalid by the Council, because it did not provide a drainge design. The application was sent back to the architect because of this.

How did this scheme manage to get planning consent, without addressing the drainage concerns raised by Yorkshire Water ?

I think there is a clue on the sign in the above photo... it reads, 'in association with York City Council' ? !!!!!!

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piaggio1 says...
9:59pm Wed 5 Dec 12

'in association with York City Council'

oh dear.!!!
whatever are you saying??
you surley dont mean!! no,no .
can,t be true

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BL2 says...
9:07am Thu 6 Dec 12

Ichabod76 wrote:
meme wrote:
How can this work finacially unless the land was free from CoYC or A1 haulage are very generous benefactors?
Perhaps someone can answer this?
I have known Roy for many years and he is just a very generous man
I think he already owned the land but I'm not sure

Bravo Roy wish there were more like you
Well the fact is that Roy Handley owns the land, will continue to own the land and will also own the houses! The only thing the council are doing is renting then out for him ...nice little earner to expand his "empire"...

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BL2 says...
9:16am Thu 6 Dec 12

Interesting that the Council Planning portal still says this is pending decision?

Reference 11/02736/FULM
Application Received Mon 10 Oct 2011
Address Former Allenby Nursery Site Wheldrake Lane Elvington York
Proposal Erection of 18 dwellings
Status Pending Decision
Appeal Status Not Available
Appeal Decision Not Available

Also:
http://planningacces
s.york.gov.uk/online
-applications/files/
AC688F1D12AD3899602A
3BC866CAD58E/pdf/11_
02736_FULM-COMMUNITI
ES___NEIGHBOURHOODS-
1289224.pdf

and

http://planningacces
s.york.gov.uk/online
-applications/files/
E8CDEF5820A5D372520F
E84EA9E89582/pdf/11_
02736_FULM-YORKSHIRE
_WATER-1284295.pdf

and

http://planningacces
s.york.gov.uk/online
-applications/files/
371A6C638FB38E77D42A
AEA4E07175CF/pdf/11_
02736_FULM-OUSE_AND_
DERWENT_INTERNAL_DRA
INAGE_BOARD-1302934.
pdf

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bunny1129 says...
9:45pm Thu 6 Dec 12

I disagree with the view of Mr Handley doing this scheme for the good of others. I am disgusted that York Council has granted permission for this to continue. They are building on green belt land, it is compacted clay and at this moment it is flooded. I hope that the council look at the traffic management side, it is taking your life in your hands crossing Wheldrake lane especially with a young baby in a pram, with all the added traffic there is an accident waiting to happen.
As for the 'sensitive people of Elvington' I can assure you the majority of the village were all for F1 testing etc, it was only a small handful that were against, unlike this scheme where the roles were reversed.

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Magicman! says...
2:30am Fri 7 Dec 12

Gyspsy Power wrote:
idlehousewife wrote:
This project will simply exacerbate the parking problem outside the primary school. There is an accident waiting to happen here as the main road and Dauby Lane are already difficult to navigate at certain times of day. Why do parents have to park their cars? Why can't they simply drop off their children if they insist on driving them to school in any case?
Lazy parents should be walking to school with their kids. No wonder we have a generation of fatties
Can't really argue with this!! We can blame America for this - they don't walk anywhere, and this has rubbed off on people over here.

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Magicman! says...
2:35am Fri 7 Dec 12

Quick question.... these are in Elvington and are affordable homes so they will likely be occupied by those on low incomes and so probably cannot afford to run a car - so will the bus service out there be a bit more convenient and run later into the day? Transdev currently accept return tickets issued by East Yorkshire, though I don't know if the reverse is true - but if it is then this might help a bit.

Also, these houses will have a cycle shed - they're in Elvington!! Do the developers really think families will cycle along THAT ROAD to go anywhere near York? I've cycled to many different places, cycled in and around greater manchester and even on the A1, and that B1228 still makes me nervous if I have to go along it.

There's no traffic free alternative route because dykes and the airfield get in the way.

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Sawday2 says...
9:57pm Sat 8 Dec 12

Why do people keep on using the term 'affordable'. This is so misleading. If they mean 'low cost' or 'cheap' why don't they say that?
Affordable to me means anything up to £350,000 but I guess these houses will be somewhat less than that.
English is a great language and has many useful words. The trick is to use the right ones. It's really not that difficult folks.

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