Brentwood Borough Council welcomed Government Minister Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Brentwood last month, (31 January), to see the council’s ambitious affordable housing regeneration developments taking place on brownfield sites in the borough.
During her time in the borough, Baroness Taylor visited some of the areas involved in the Council’s Strategic Housing Development Programme, which will deliver 143 affordable homes, across six sites on brownfield land and underused garage sites.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government heard about the council’s ambition to not only create new affordable homes in the borough, but also for those properties to have high environmental sustainability credentials, providing tenants with good quality homes and very low running costs.
The visit was also an opportunity for the council to highlight some of the challenges it faces to deliver the ambitions of building of highly sustainable homes. Build costs have risen steeply over the last few years, and brownfield sites can have unknown challenges, along with insufficient grants available to meet viability gaps.
Baroness Taylor later toured Brookfield Close in Hutton, which is now cleared and ready for work to start on site to transform it from an underused area of housing and garages to a zero carbon (in use) housing development consisting of 62 new homes comprising 16 houses (2, 3 and 4 bedroom) including detached, semi-detached, and terraced properties and 46 flats/apartments (1, 2 and 3 bedroom).
The visit ended at Dunton Hills Golf Course, for the opportunity to take in the scenic vision for the planned Dunton Hills Garden Village near West Horndon. The new Garden Village will see development of up to 4000 homes, 5.5ha employment land, community and retail facilities, along with new primary and secondary schools, and new health facilities. Dunton Hills aims to meet a range of local community needs, including social, employment and sustainable transport choices.
Councillor Dr Tim Barrett, Chair of the Housing, Health & Community Committee at Brentwood Borough Council, said: “Affordable housing that is sustainable is a key theme of the brownfield sites we are developing. But ambitious projects like these do not come without their challenges. It was good to get the chance to highlight those challenges to Baroness Taylor, challenges like the higher cost of delivering highly sustainable homes and the higher costs involved in regenerating brownfield land.
“As a local authority, we aren’t building homes to make money – our ambitions are to build modern, safe, healthy and green standard homes, delivering the council homes that our communities urgently need. We are investing to positively transform lives for the better for generations to come and Government policies and funding can support us in delivering these homes.”
Councillor Barry Aspinell, Leader of Brentwood Borough Council, added: “It was fantastic to welcome Baroness Taylor to the borough and to showcase our progress so far and our overall plans for building much needed affordable and highly sustainable homes for our residents.”
Justin Galliford, CEO of Norse Group, said: “We are proud to support Brentwood Borough Council as their strategic partner in delivering their ambitious regeneration plans, including South Essex's first net zero (in-use) homes. With 100% affordable housing, Brookfield Close sets a new benchmark for residential living—tackling fuel poverty, enhancing health and wellbeing, and redefining sustainable community living. This project exemplifies Norse Group’s unwavering commitment to building a better future and helping communities thrive."