A record number of new homes were built in Bath and North East Somerset during the past year, with a total of 871 built in the 2016/17 financial period.
This represents the highest number of new builds since Bath & North East Somerset Council was created in 1996, and significantly higher than the long-term average over the last 20 years of around 450 per year.
Taking action to deliver new homes and job is one of the Council’s six corporate priorities, and the record number of homes completed in the past year demonstrates that the Council is delivering upon its Core Strategy development plan, which has set targets for delivering 13,000 new homes, including 3,290 affordable units, between April 2011 and March 2029.
Of the 871 new homes built in the past year, the majority (57%) were on previously developed land, and 193 were affordable.
Councillor Tim Warren (Conservative, Mendip), Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council, said: “One of our top priorities as a Council and administration is to deliver more local homes to both buy and rent – and the record number of new homes completed in the past year demonstrates the progress we are making in delivering on this commitment.
“By building more new homes, particularly on brownfield sites, we can help more local people get onto the housing ladder and own a home of their own, whilst at the same ensuring we also have the right mix of social and rented accommodation to meet our area’s needs.
“To support this further, we have also earmarked £3.5 million in the Council’s budget to support the delivery of new affordable housing projects throughout the district in the coming years.”
Councillor Bob Goodman (Conservative, Combe Down), Cabinet Member for Development & Neighbourhoods, added: “Housing demand is extremely high within the district so I am delighted that the number of homes built in the past year is the highest since B&NES was created over twenty years ago.
“These figures show that we are working hard to ensure that sufficient land is made available to meet our housing needs, with nearly 57% of the homes completed in 2016/17 built on previously developed land.
“We are making good progress in the delivery of new affordable homes, but we would still like to do even better. A number of factors can affect the proportion of affordable homes delivered each year, such as the phasing of developments and the fact a large number are on brownfield sites, which are more challenging to deliver.
“However we are committed to increasing the number of affordable homes delivered, which is why the Council is putting direct support into delivering more affordable units.
“We still have a long way to go, but we are determined to ensure that our housing provision enables people to live and prosper in Bath and North East Somerset.”
Almost 1,000 new affordable homes are anticipated to become available by 2020 on around 40 housing developments if the current rate of delivery of new homes continues as predicted.
Affordable homes are currently being delivered on 12 developments across the district and are being delivered as a range of both rented and low cost home ownership and will be made available through the Councils Homesearch register.
For full details of this affordable housing delivery, visit: www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/housing/find-home/new-affordable-housing.
