Sefton to deliver first council homes in decades
Construction will start off Buckley Hill Lane next month to build 63 properties, of which 18 will be acquired by the council.
Sandway Homes, the authority-owned housing development company, will ask Sefton Council to approve its acquisition of the Netherton flats at its cabinet meeting next Friday.
The council homes will be set across two blocks on the former Z-Block Flats apartment buildings site, becoming the first council housing in the borough since 2006. These homes will provide a mix of one- and two-bedroom properties available for social rent.
As part of the wider development, Sandway will also create 45 two- to four-bedroom market houses.
Each home will feature an electric vehicle charging point, as well as an energy-efficient design with high-efficiency boilers and heating systems to reduce heat loss and the site’s overall carbon footprint.
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.”
“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”, she continued.
“Approving the acquisition of Sefton’s first council homes next week will be the next step in that success story.”
Plans were approved for the development in July 2021. The council has cited an exceptionally long lead-in for existing services to be moved off site among the reasons for the delay in action.
Pegasus Group worked with the council to develop the plans. Modern City Architecture & Urbanism is the architect. Other consultants include Turner and Townsend, engineer Marston & Grundy LLP, Wardell Armstrong, and Vectos.
Councils willingly handed over their homes to housing associations back in the early 90s because they acknowledged that they lacked the resources or expertise to manage them properly. Political priorities interfered with decision-making and budget allocation and let’s just say that the direct workforce did not place tenants’ needs as central to their ethos. A question for Sefton Council’s leadership, therefore: what makes them think they’ll be better landlords this time around? And given what they’re on the hook for at The Strand, how can they afford this?
By Sceptical
Councils in the 1990s were finding it increasingly problematic to manage their stock let alone build more and the profile of the HAs was raised by central government with massive funding incentives. I wonder if the Right to Buy will still apply here which doesn’t currently apply with HAs.
By Anonymous
Please note you have put up boards on the corner of great hey,opposite Buckley hill.
This is blocking the view of the local residents who have to get onto Buckley hill.
This is major accident waiting to happen.
Please rectify this problem as soon as possible
By Mrs cooney