Major housing partnership for Stoke-on-Trent

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A major public-private sector collaboration designed to deliver affordable housing to Stoke-on-Trent has been announced.

The partnership between the city council, private sector investor Cheyne Capital and the government through Homes England, will lead multi-million-pound regeneration projects in two areas of the city.

Late last year, Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s cabinet agreed to a programme of work that will see 379 new affordable homes built on cleared brownfield land in Pyenest Street, Shelton and at a 1960s housing scheme at the top of Bucknall New Road, Hanley.

The authority has now announced it will work with social property investor Cheyne Capital, and government agency Homes England to deliver the £40M programme, in the first public-private sector partnership of its kind in the city.

At Bucknall New Road, a number of low rise flats and maisonettes will be demolished to allow for the regeneration. More than half of these properties are already vacant. The development has taken consideration of residents views and the council will continue to work closely with residents throughout the process.

The regeneration at the two sites will create a net gain of 224 new high quality affordable homes, with the work coming as part of a wider regeneration of the area.

Under the initiative, the council will develop its own company to be a registered provider of affordable housing which will enable it to access grant support from government agency Homes England.

Cheyne Capital’s Social Property Impact Fund is responsible for buying the land and funding the development and build at the two sites. The properties will be eligible for Homes England funding, to help ensure they can be available at an affordable rent.

Councillor Randy Conteh, cabinet member for housing, communities and safer city, said: “This project is really exciting. We have worked in a completely new and innovative way to put forward a programme of work that will deliver the multi-million pound regeneration of two areas of the city in need of attention. It is a project that we do not have the public funds available to lead ourselves; but by working collaboratively with the private sector we can raise the quality of accommodation and life of hundreds of families, and rejuvenate communities.”

Under the proposals, the Pyenest Street site would be developed first, with new homes expected to be available in spring 2022. Work on the Bucknall New Road site would then begin in summer 2022, with an expected completion date of summer 2026.

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