A ribbon cutting ceremony has taken place at a development of 13 affordable homes in Farmborough, a small village 6 miles south west of Bath.
Representatives from Knightstone Housing were joined by Cllr Alan Hale, Chairman of Bath & North East Somerset Council, along with representatives from Lovell Homes and Farmborough Parish Council for a celebration event on Tuesday 12th July.
The 13 affordable homes are part of a wider development of 38 homes by Lovell Homes and Blue Cedar Homes.
The ceremony took place as part of the National Housing Federation’s (NHF) Rural Housing Week 2016 (11th-17th July), which aims to raise awareness of the need for more affordable housing and investment in rural areas across the country.
More than one in five of England’s population live in rural areas but in some of these places only a fifth of the homes we need have been built over the last five years.
Nick Medhurst, Chair of the Board at Knightstone, said: “There remains a critical need for affordable housing in rural areas, to keep our villages alive.
“We support the NHF’s call for more rural housing by building the right homes in the right places, at affordable prices, to meet local need.
“Building more affordable homes in areas like Farmborough benefits the entire community. It helps local people to stay living in the areas they’ve grown up in, often near friends and family, and it supports local businesses by ensuring continued demand for their services.”
Councillor Liz Richardson, Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Homes & Planning, said: “There is a real need for more affordable housing in our rural areas, which is why the Council took the decision to support the delivery of these 13 affordable homes with £300,000 from our capital funding.”
Lovell’s Regional Director, Kate Rees commented: “New well-designed, high-quality homes are essential to the continuing vitality of the countryside, enabling people to settle close to their roots and helping local communities to thrive.”