99 Affordable Homes Built

Nearly 100 affordable homes have been built in Amber Valley over the past year – while almost 1,800 people remain on the authority’s housing waiting list.

A summary of these cut-price builds has been published ahead of a full Amber Valley Borough Council meeting on Wednesday, March 27.

They include sites in Leabrooks, Mackworth, Crich, Smalley and Belper.

Most of the 99 affordable homes have been built through deals between the council and housing developers. These deals are known as Section 106 agreements.

They oblige developers build a portion – ideally 30 per cent – of affordable housing on all residential schemes over 10 houses.

Sometimes, a decision is made to gift a sum of money to the council for the authority to fund affordable homes.  Affordable homes are generally offered at 80 per cent of the area’s average rent. Others are available for shared ownership, whereby residents gradually buy more shares in a house until they own it outright or sell their share.
These are the locations of the 99 affordable houses built in Amber Valley over the last year:

Damstead Park, Alfreton – eight
Langley Country Park, Radbourne Lane, Mackworth – 20
Joseph Roe Drive, Crich – nine
Outseats Farm, Alfreton – six
Greenhill lane, Leabrooks – 38
Yewtree Close/Kidsley Close, Smalley – nine
Shroggs Wood, Parks Estate, Belper – nine

However, the number of affordable homes built is still lower than in neighbouring council areas.  For example, Derbyshire Dales District Council says that 110 affordable homes will be built by the end of the current financial year with a further 437 in the pipeline.  South Derbyshire District Council aims to build 150 affordable homes each year.