Millions for affordable homes in Liverpool and Sefton

Mar 26 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL will gain nearly 1,000 new or refurbished affordable homes after an £80m funding boost was announced yesterday.

The houses will be built and renovated over the next three years in areas suffering from housing market failure, as well as Norris Green, Dovecot, Lee Valley and Garston.

The announcement was made as Sefton Council shortlisted five developers to bid for a 650-dwelling project at Town Lane, Southport. The 29-hectare Kew development will be one of the borough’s biggest housebuilding schemes.

The projects in Liver-pool were secured after the Housing Corpora-tion guaranteed a £38m grant to the city.

That will be joined by additional private finance to make up the £80m investment.

Liverpool City Council says that the homes it intends to construct will have lower carbon footprints than ever before. The grant is part of the Housing Corp’s £8.4bn National Affordable Housing Programme that will provide at least 155,000 new affordable houses built nationwide by the end of 2011.

Meanwhile, Sefton invited five developers to make presentations in stage two of their preferred bidder selection process.

Barratt Develop-ments, Countryside Properties, Keepmoat, Miller Homes and Taylor Wimpey successfully made it through stage one of the process.

The project will see around 40 houses completed each year for 16 years at the former landfill site.

At least 30% of the properties will be affordable homes.

The land is considered to be high risk by the council’s contamination land inspection strategy, and will need significant remediation.