Cabinet set to approve construction of authority’s first council houses in 17 years
Sefton Council is set to start work on its first council houses in 17 years.
Its cabinet meeting next Thursday (November 2) will hear that Sandway Homes, the authority-owned housing development company, will begin work on the new site at Buckley Hill in the second week of November.
Cabinet will be asked to approve the acquisition of the 18 new apartments on the site for use as council housing.
Members will also be asked to approve a £2.2m Supplementary Capital Estimate funded through Section 106 housing capital receipts, historic right to buy sharing agreement receipts and Homes England grant funding. Rental from the scheme would be reinvested into Sefton Council’s housing programme.
The 18 apartments at Buckley Hill Lane will be a mix of one- and two-bedroom homes and those on the ground floor will be built to meet national accessibility and adaptability standards.
Electric vehicle charging points to each dwelling and to the apartment block and energy efficient design with high thermal efficiency values to reduce heat loss, high efficiency boilers and heating systems are among the measures that will help reduce the Buckley Hill Lane site’s carbon footprint and offset its impact on climate change.
There will also be sustainable design and landscaping throughout the site with ‘green streets’ and surface water drainage will be integrated into landscape features to encourage wildlife.
Elevations of the proposed properties
The properties will also conform to the latest building regulations which will ensure that they will have a higher energy efficiency rating than the average equivalent property in Sefton.
Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “Affordable housing is very much needed across Sefton, so I welcome this news that we now have the opportunity to progress this groundbreaking scheme with Sandway Homes and acquire the borough’s first new council housing in 17 years.
“I am confident my cabinet colleagues will be pleased to approve the acquisition.”
Last month, Sefton Council’s cabinet heard that just seven properties out of a total of 78 are left for sale on Sandway Homes’ Hey Farm Gardens and Sandy Brook plots and 25 of the properties handed over have been affordable homes.
Sandway also reported that work is due to start soon at Buckley Hill and Molyneux Gardens, and a planning application was due to be submitted for a development at the former Bootle High School site in Netherton. These will result in almost 120 more new, high quality properties in the borough.
Cllr Hardy added: “The council established Sandway Homes in 2018 as part of its commitment to creating the new, high quality homes needed across the across the borough and that is exactly what the company is achieving.
“Approving the acquisition of Sefton’s first council homes next week will be the next step in that success story.”
