A £22 MILLION project has been approved to create hundreds of new affordable homes in Selby.

The latest phase of Selby District Council’s Housing Development Programme, with the Selby District Housing Trust (SDHT), was agreed by the Executive on Thursday, and means funding has been guaranteed to create new affordable housing in the region.

Cllr Richard Musgrave said approval of the scheme would be a real benefit to the town and the district, and could see up to 207 new affordable homes created within two years.

He said: “It’s putting in a framework to allow us to continue to build new homes. Over the last few years, we have started to build new council houses either directly for the council or with partners, and had some great successes. This is the next phase, and really ramps up the ambition."

The authority will be looking at building on sites it already owns, but the new framework will make it easier for them to buy sites with planning permission from local landowners to help meet its targets.

Cllr Musgrave said: “We have had some success on building on former car park in Tadcaster and a former garage site in Eggborough, and we’re about to start on a former garage site in Riccall.

“Bondgate in Selby is a site the council already owns, but I wouldn’t like to put a number on the number of homes possible there. It’s a former landfill site, so there would be some technical engineering challenges. The car park at the former council offices in Portholme Road is another site we could develop nicely. We made the decision last year it was no longer required as a car park.”

The council will also look to bring homes which are currently empty back into use, as the authority believes there are more than 150 currently available in the district, owned privately.

Cllr Musgrave said: “That number is broadly comparable to other councils in the area and we have resources now and an action plan and we’re going to start tackling them.

“What it will mean is we have a range of different options now. We can start working with house owners to potentially bring them back into use through grants or loans, or council purchasing them back from them.”