Northampton council flat residents living underneath building site to be given nearly £1,000 each following 'disruption'

Council flat residents living underneath a building site are set to get nearly £1,000 each as a “good will payment” for “experiencing disruption”.

Northampton Partnership Homes (NPH), the council's housing provider, has promised to give the 15 residents living on the top floor of the under-construction Woodstock building in Billing Road a payment of £980 each following “disruption” during building works.

Winston Williams director of asset management at NPH said that in the planning phase of the Woodstock extension residents were told they would need to leave their properties for around two weeks while new stairwells were added to the building.

However, it was later deemed safe by Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service for the residents to stay in their flats while works were carried out, and so residents stayed.

Mr Williams said: "We had promised residents a good will payment to cover the time they needed to be away, and we know they may have made plans to use this payment for alternative accommodation. We have therefore agreed to honour this offer, which works out at £980 for each resident living on the top floor.

"We anticipate the works will be completed early next year. We would like to thank the residents living in Woodstock, especially those on the top floor who have experienced the most disruption, for their patience during this time.”

Councillor Emma Roberts, of the Delapre and Rushmere ward, said she was “very pleased to have helped” secure the good will payment.

She said: "I'm very pleased to have helped. I'm very pleased NPH is considering the safety of the residents. I'm happy with the response NPH has given and the work it has done. I'm very happy NPH is going to continue to support those, both financially and with other options, and I hope it continues to monitor the situation really closely."

NPH had plans approved in 2019 to build two extra floors at Woodstock comprising of 10 one-bed flats, with the housing provider saying at the time that its aim was to “add to the town's social housing stock by building upwards rather than outwards”.