TVD’s £8.3m affordable home scheme approved

Tawd Valley Developments can now go forward with plans to build 50 homes on Fairlie in Skelmersdale.

The housebuilder, which is owned by West Lancashire Council, will build 12 one-bedroom apartments, eight two-bed bungalows, 22 two-bed houses and eight three-bed houses on the nearly five-acre site.

The inclusion of bungalows is a key part of the project.

“There aren’t too many developers building bungalows at the moment and there is a lot of pent-up demand,” said TVD managing director Mark Kitts.  “We are really pleased to be delivering these to meet the needs of the borough.”

Approximately 30% of the development’s site was a playing field for the Fairlie Primary School, which closed in 2004. Since then, it has become scrubland.

John McCall Architects designed the Fairlie scheme, which provides secured private gardens for each house. ARP Associates acted as engineer.

Work on the site is expected to begin at the end of January 2022, with a tentative completion date scheduled for January 2024.

The development team includes planning consultant Zerum, transport consultant Mosodi and ecological consultants Indigo.

Approval for the project was secured at the West Lancashire Council planning meeting on 14 October.

The development is the largest yet for TVD, which aims to build up to 340 affordable homes over the next five years. The housebuilder is working on four schemes in the borough which will deliver a total of 81 council homes. These include the 27-home Northfield development, 14-home Fairstead project, 17-home Brierfield scheme, and, of course, the 50-home Fairlie project. TVD finished its 13-home Eskbank development in September.

“We’re delighted with the consent as it helps sustain our early momentum,” Kitts said. “We expect to finish our neighbouring scheme at Fairstead in November, at Brierfield either side of Christmas and will be on site at Fairlie early in the new year, so it’s all systems go.”

Cllr Jenny Wilkie, portfolio holder for housing and landlord services, voiced her approval of the planning committee’s decision to give the scheme the green light.

“Providing quality new homes for our residents is a key focus for us as a council and I’m delighted with this consent,” said Cllr Jenny Wilkie, portfolio holder for housing and landlord services.

“The pending completion of two other TVD schemes means thirty-one families can be in new homes either before or just after Christmas and I can’t think of a better present for anyone,” she continued.

West Lancashire Council is in the process of reviewing TVD’s business plan.

 

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Affordable housing is not affordable. What price is affordable housing? I think it all depends on the family household income. It also depends if the family are classed as a low income family, middle class or upper class family.

By Darren Born Bred

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