BUILDING work has finished on six new council houses in York, and new tenants will soon be moving in.

City of York Council has unveiled the six new two-bedroomed houses on Pottery Lane in Heworth, as part of its wider scheme to build 70 new council homes across the city.

Cllr Sam Lisle, the council’s executive member for housing and safer neighbourhoods, said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating the completion of these much-needed new council homes, which are built to a high energy efficiency levels.

“These will help those in desperate need of affordable housing in York and we’re looking forward to welcoming the first tenants moving in soon.”

Fifty-five of the planned 70 homes have already been completed, in Hewley Avenue, Le Tour Way off Beckfield Lane and Lindsey Avenue in Holgate.

Another eight apartments at Fenwick Street near Rowntree Park should be finished in March.

The Pottery Lane houses have been built by ESH Property Services to high energy efficiency levels – Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 – and to Lifetime Homes’ standards to ensure they can be easily modified as tenants’ needs change.

Heworth ward councillor Barbara Boyce visited the new houses earlier this week.

She said: “We are delighted these new affordable homes are open in our ward.

“They are lovely houses, and I think if anyone is offered them they should be delighted.”

However, she said it was disappointing not to see more affordable homes being built across the city.

“These houses were commissioned when we had a Labour council, and no new ones have been commissioned since we had a Lib Dem and Conservative coalition.

“But we are very pleased these ones have been built to such a high standard.”

As well as the 70 council houses either built or underway, the council has got government money to help build another 65 shared ownership homes.

The £2.76m grant, announced in January, will come from the government’s Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21.

The money will be either be used to buy houses on the open market or build new ones.

Detailed proposals are already being drawn up in accordance with government criteria and they are expected to be presented to councillors to agree on later in the year, City of York Council said.