150 new homes for rent by 2011

Rochdale Council, working alongside Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, aims to deliver 150 new homes for rent by 2011.

The Council has started to bid for funding to the Government's Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), with the development of five new housing schemes already in the pipeline.

Rochdale Council’s Head of Strategic Housing, Donna Bowler said: "The Council has ambitious plans to build a large number of affordable social houses for rent and funding bids have already been made to the HCA. One hundred affordable homes will be built in the next two years thanks to a partnership with six Registered Social Landlords and funding from the HCA National Affordable Housing Programme.

"Rochdale Boroughwide Housing have also successfully bid for £1.2M from the same HCA pot to help with building 22 new homes for rent at Croft Street. They are also buying back and refurbishing five former Right to Buy properties.

"The Council, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing and Brighter Horizons are now developing a further five house building schemes and we will shortly put funding bids to the HCA for these. These schemes form part of the Council’s partnership with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing to deliver 150 new homes for rent by 2011."

The Council have spoken of their housing ambitions after the Government announced that an extra £180 million is to be made available to the Homes and Communities Agency to build 1,200 new council homes in England.

Housing minister John Healey said: "Today I launch phase two of the biggest council house building programme for almost two decades. This is a real opportunity for councils to tackle the shortage of affordable homes in their communities as well as help young people get a career in building through the apprenticeship scheme. I'm asking all council leaders to consider how they might use this money to make a real difference to families looking for a home and local people looking for a career.

"These new council homes, along with the 2,000 plus homes I gave the go ahead to earlier this month, show how we are using the power of public investment to help Britain through the recession. It is helping build the homes we need and is a major boost to both business and employment in the construction industry."

Sir Bob Kerslake, Chief Executive of the HCA, said: "This second round of funding will add substantially to the number of new affordable homes local councils have already signed up to deliver.

"Homes and jobs should go hand in hand. Incorporating apprenticeships and other local labour initiatives is part of the HCA's role in creating thriving communities and is a perfect fit with helping councils achieve ambitions for their own areas."