10:20am Saturday 20th March 2010
Ryedale District Council has denied claims that it is not providing enough affordable homes.
A report from housing charity Shelter ranks the council 193rd of 323 on the amount of affordable housing it provides.
Coun Linda Cowling, chairwoman of the council’s community services committee, has said the portrayal of the council is ill-judged.
She said: “Shelter has not explained that the council is set a figure of 205 new homes of all types to be built each year.
“Against that total it will always be impossible to deliver 292 new affordable homes per annum.”
The 292 figure was put forward by The Housing Survey and Assessment of Ryedale, which states in its report that “the level of permitted development... is not sufficient to address its housing needs”.
A spokesman for the council said that 57 affordable homes were made available in Ryedale in 2008/2009, and that this figure had increased to 91 over the last year.
He said: “This up-to-date figure would place Ryedale District Council in the top 25 per cent of the 323 councils assessed in Shelter’s league table.”
The council’s statement comes in the same week that a £1.1 million affordable-housing scheme was opened in Rillington at a ceremony attended by the chairman of Ryedale Council, Di Keal.
The builder awarded the contract is a new local company, Cobalt Builders, which specialises in low-cost homes. It is also the first project for Broadacres Housing Association within the Ryedale area.
Coun Keal said: “Affordable housing is a top priority for the council, and we know that there is a huge demand for exactly these types of homes, so it is more than welcome that these homes have now been completed.”
Broadacres’ director of Care Services, Paul Lightfoot, said: “I am pleased that our first development in Ryedale has delivered such high-quality, attractive housing for local people.”
The scheme, which comprises four two-bedroom and five three-bedroom properties, was provided in partnership with the district council with the help of grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.
Broadacres and Cobalt are now developing a second site in Pickering of 15 houses, which will be offered for rent and low-cost homeownership to people from the town. The homes are scheduled for occupation in January 2011.
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