Affordable apartment scheme clears major hurdle after almost two decades of uncertainty

A sketch showing how the apartment block could look.

Northampton Borough Council’s cabinet has approved the £1 transfer of a parcel of land on Trenery Way from the council’s general fund to the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) and approved the development of the land.

It will see 28 affordable rented apartments built and delivered by Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), made up of 19 one-bedroom apartments and nine two-bedroom apartments. The site is near the new Waterside university campus.

Councillor Stephen Hibbert, the cabinet member for housing, was delighted to see the transfer of the land approved by his cabinet colleagues on Wednesday (December 16).

The application site, circled, is near to the University of Northampton's Waterside campus.

He said: “The Southbridge East site represents an excellent opportunity to increase the supply of affordable rented accommodation. It will be in keeping with the neighbouring developments in the Southbridge area with under croft parking to mitigate flood risks, and balconies for outdoor amenity space.

“It will be subject to a local lettings policy similar to the one we introduced at Centenary House. It’s affordable rents, so that’s 80 per cent of market rent capped at local housing allowance rates.”

He added that grants are being sought from Homes England, as well as the potential use of Right to Buy receipts, to help fund the development. The exact cost of the scheme is not known as it was discussed in a private session of the meeting. A detailed planning application will arrive at a later stage.

The borough council itself only took control of the land in January as a result of an agreement dating back from August 2002 where the authority granted planning permission for a mixed development of houses and flats, a café bar restaurant and a new pedestrian footbridge. The agreement required that the land was transferred from the developer to the council with a restrictive covenant only allowing it to be used for affordable housing.

Since January, NPH has been working with the borough council’s planning team and Northamptonshire County Council’s highways team to design an affordable housing scheme. NPH is effectively a borough council company that looks after its housing stock.

After appointing a main contractor to undertake the works, NPH will manage the construction contract, oversee the works and manage the cost, programme and quality. Although an 18-month construction period has been allowed for, it is hoped that this can be reduced.

The deputy leader of the borough, Councillor Phil Larratt, added: “It’s great to see this site moving forward. It got lost for a little while but at long last we’re getting there and I’m looking forward to seeing bricks and mortar coming out of the ground.”