Affordable Homes for Rotherham

The Leader of Rotherham Council, Cllr Chris Read was joined by Kilnhurst and Swinton East Ward Councillors, Cllr Victoria Cusworth and Cllr Nigel Harper and Cabinet Member for Housing Cllr Sarah Allen to officially break ground on site in Swinton last week.

When complete, the development which, was once the home of the former Ship Inn public house, will boast four, one-bedroom, semi-detached bungalows.

In neighbouring West Melton, building work is taking place at pace on two separate developments which will see the area benefit from six, two-bedroom, semi-detached houses and four, one-bedroom apartments.

Partners RH Fullwood & Co Ltd, are using modern methods of construction to enhance the speed of the builds, meaning that the new homes will be ready for occupation sooner, helping to mitigate against the impact on the local community during construction.

In addition to being energy efficient, the homes will also be future proofed through the inclusion of air-source heat pumps for the supply of heating and hot water to help reduce energy bills for tenants.

Cllr Read said:

“These developments are another step forward in our commitment to support local people with their housing needs by providing more affordable and high-quality council homes for local people to rent.

“We’re working hard to ensure that we continually adapt to the boroughs changing housing needs to offer a range of properties to residents including apartments, bungalows, and family homes, all with energy efficiency measures as standard.

The partnership with R H Fullwoods will build on the Council’s award-winning work on social value to promote local employment through council spending. Throughout the works, the Yorkshire based builders have committed to employing 3 FTE local people on the project and spending over £180,000 locally.

Director, Guy Fullwood added:

“We are delighted to collaborate once again with Rotherham Council in delivering a diverse range of properties. This partnership allows us to create local employment opportunities, including the recruitment of a new apprentice, directly resulting from these initiatives. In line with our commitment to supporting the Rotherham area, we prioritise sourcing from local suppliers and subcontractors whenever possible”.

In addition to Council investment, the project was awarded grant funding from the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), managed by Homes England.

Matthew Wright, Affordable Housing Delivery Manager at Homes England said:

“As the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, increasing the supply of quality affordable homes remains one of our key objectives and we are committed to supporting ambitious housebuilders of all sizes to build those homes and communities.

This investment through the Affordable Homes Programme does just that, enabling the Council to build 14 much needed new homes the people of Swinton and West Melton can be proud of.”

Since the programme began in 2018, the Council has delivered 669 new homes for Council rent or shared ownership. Further sites and projects have been identified to deliver hundreds more properties to meet the Council’s commitment to deliver 1,000 new Council homes across the borough by summer 2027.