Longhurst Group partners with Huntingdonshire District Council to deliver affordable housing

Longhurst Group is delighted to have been selected by Huntingdonshire District Council to deliver a plan for more than 90 affordable homes across the region.

We’ll work with the Council to provide the affordable homes across up to nine sites, subject to planning permission being granted.

The partnership will support the Council’s efforts to increase the provision of affordable housing across its region by developing underutilised land it already owns.

Marcus Keys, Executive Director of Growth and Development, said the news was really positive for the Group.

He added: “We’re delighted to have been selected as the preferred provider of these affordable homes across Huntingdonshire. This is a further demonstration of our commitment to providing the homes that people need, where they are needed most.

“We’ve got a good relationship with our partners at the District Council and we’ve been working closely on this proposal for a long time, so I’m delighted that things are now progressing.

To be able to deliver affordable housing across a number of undeveloped Council-owned sites is very pleasing and we know that it’ll help to meet a significant demand for this type of affordable housing in the area.

“This partnership also further reinforces our commitment to Huntingdonshire and our relationship with Huntingdonshire District Council when it comes to providing affordable housing. We’re already working on a number of sites across the region and have many other exciting plans in the pipeline.”

The affordable homes created via this new partnership will be a split of shared ownership and social rent properties.

Executive Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, Cllr Ryan Fuller, said: “Last year I announced that we’d managed to deliver the highest number of new affordable homes throughout the district in more than a decade, thanks to our astute planning policy-making and  judicious application of those new policies.

“However, in addition to the affordable homes secured through new developments we must also consider other methods to help deliver the affordable housing that’s required to meet not just the current but also the future needs of Huntingdonshire’s residents.

Working with Longhurst Group we’re therefore taking this first step in developing some of our own surplus land to build new affordable homes for both rent and sale to meet the needs of local people.

“Affordable housing helps people fulfil the dream of home ownership, reduce high rents in the private rented sector and prevent those struggling from becoming homeless.”

Full planning applications for the development of the sites will be submitted over the next few months.