Member Article

MP praises new housing development in North Yorkshire

A baker who has made afternoon tea for Mary Berry and a woman who is about to start training to become a teacher are among the residents living in a new £3 million housing development in North Yorkshire.

On Friday 25th May, Broadacres officially opened its Beckfield development in Colburn, near Catterick.

Guests included Richmond (Yorks) MP Rishi Sunak and the Chief Executive of Homes England Nick Walkley. They were among given a tour of the 32-home scheme, which includes two, three and four-bedroom houses for sale, shared ownership and affordable rent.

They visited the home of young first-time buyers Jessica Kiani and her partner Ryan Simpson.

The couple started searching for a home in 2017 and were keen to stay close to their family and their work. Ryan, 22, is a postman working in Richmond while Jessica, 24, has three jobs, including working as a teaching assistant at a local primary school, whilst she waits to start her teaching training course in 2019.

Despite having saved enough for a deposit, the cost of buying the homes they looked at would have meant the mortgage would have been too big, but then they viewed a house at Beckfield.

The immediately liked the homes and opted to buy, via shared ownership, which means they have bought 25% of their £132,000 two-bedroom home and pay Broadacres a small rent on the remainder.

They say: “Even when you factor in the mortgage, rent and other costs, it is still a lot less than we would have had to pay if we bought a home on another development or if we rented privately.

“Now, we have the option in the future of buying a bigger stake in our home if we wish, but the most important thing is we are on the property ladder and still have enough money to continue doing the things we enjoy.

“We love our new home and couldn’t be happier.”

Among the residents who have chosen to rent are Martyn Edmonds; his partner Becky and their one-year-old daughter Isabelle.

Martyn and Becky were living in their parents’ homes before they discovered their application for a rented two-bedroom home had been successful.

Martyn is a pastry chef (who has made afternoon tea for Mary Berry) while Becky is a Nursery Practitioner. Martyn says: “We were on a waiting list for a home and this one couldn’t be better because it is just around the corner from Becky’s parents.

“We qualified because we both work in the area and I am actually about to start a new job soon which will move me even closer to home, so everything has fallen into place at the right time.

“It’s our first home together, but we are in no rush to buy, so this is perfect, and our aim is to save up enough money to buy a percentage of the house on a shared ownership basis.”

Broadacres has invested £3 million in Beckfield, which included funding of £320,571 from Homes England, the Government body responsible for delivering new homes. Broadacres used local contractor Swale Valley Construction to build the properties.

Colin Wilkie, Chairman of Broadacres, said: “Beckfield is an excellent example of a mixed tenure development which gives people the choice of buying a home outright, opting for shared ownership as Jessica and Ryan have or renting affordably like Martyn and Becky.

“It forms part of our new corporate strategy to deliver 1,250 homes across North Yorkshire over the next five years.

“We will achieve this by working in partnership with local authorities like Richmondshire District Council, local developers and funding bodies like Homes England.”

Rishi Sunak, Richmondshire MP, said: “It’s an amazing feeling when you get the keys to your first home and it’s fantastic that people like Jessica and Ryan have been able to buy a home in their local community and not had to move away from the area.

“Credit must go to Broadacres, Homes England and Richmondshire District Council for delivering these homes and hopefully by working in partnership like this we will be able to help even more Jessica’s and Ryan’s in the future.”

Nick Walkley, Chief Executive of Homes England, said: “It’s great to visit Beckfield, which is an excellent example of Homes England’s commitment to increase the supply of affordable homes in areas of greatest need.

“We’re really pleased to have provided funding to support Broadacres in developing these fantastic new affordable homes in Colburn, helping people to move in to their own homes in an area where there are high pressures on affordability, meaning they can stay close to their families and places of work.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Neil Shaefer .