New council houses to be built on the edge of Horsham

Horsham District Council has approved business cases for development of the homes on land at Billingshurst and Slinfold.

The development will be undertaken by a newly-formed council-owned company - Horsham District Homes.

The council created the company in August with the aim of giving a boost to affordable homes in the district, making best use of developers’ ‘section 106’ development cash and to provide a financial return to enable the council to invest in more housing.

A council spokesman said: “Horsham District Council has helped deliver more affordable homes to local people in the past three years than any other council in Sussex with over 750 built through existing council policies.

“The creation of Horsham District Homes is set to further build upon this achievement.”

And Horsham council cabinet member for communities Tricia Youtan, said: “I am delighted that we are now starting to develop new affordable permanent rented homes owned directly by the council, as a result of the creation of Horsham District Homes.

“In the Horsham district our existing policies have a good track record in the delivery of affordable homes.

“We shall continue with this approach but going forward with Horsham District Homes we will add to affordable housing numbers and help even more local people who are on our housing register into suitable affordable accommodation.

“This will ultimately improve the quality of residents’ lives by enabling them to have a permanent place to call home which is so essential to enable families the best opportunities to progress.”

Following a model seen in other councils, Horsham District Homes as a company, is separate from the council but wholly owned by it.

It is led by council-appointed directors but other staff resources – such as legal, financial and administrative support - come from within the council.