Firm offers £2.75m to cut cheap homes on Newport site

Persimmon Homes wants to reduce the amount of affordable houses from 35 per cent to 20 per cent at its Wellington Road development.

In return, the company has offered to give £2,750,000 Telford & Wrekin Council to be spent on building affordable housing elsewhere in the town.

Telford & Wrekin Council approved plans for 285 homes off Wellington Road in Newport in August 2012 despite 500 objections.

And in June work finally began on the project, one of the biggest in the town for a generation.

Initially, the development, which also includes a games area next to Moorfield Primary School and a children's play area was set to have 99 affordable houses.

But now, Persimmon Homes is applying to reduce that number to 57.

In return, it will ring-fence £2,750,000 to go towards the provision of affordable housing in the town.

Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee look set to allow the reduction under conditions which include 17 per cent of the homes to be built must be affordable housing in either number or value.

And 60 per cent of these must be rented social housing and the remaining 40 per cent shared ownership.

Tim Brickley, director in charge at Persimmon Homes West Midlands, confirmed the company has submitted an application to amend the affordable housing provision at its Meadow Grove development in Wellington Road.

He said: "This proposal follows discussions with Telford & Wrekin Council, who are keen to secure funding to help deliver other affordable schemes in the area."

The Wellington Road development is being built by Persimmon Homes West Midlands and will be known as Meadow Grove.

The proposals will go before Telford & Wrekin Council's planning committee on July 23.

More than 1,000 houses have been given the go-ahead in Newport, including 215 off Audley Avenue, 350 in Station Road and 85 in Edgmond Road.

Proposals have also been put forward by St Modwen Homes to change the amount of affordable housing on its development on Audley Avenue to 17 per cent.

Residents in Newport have called for the proposals to be rejected by Telford & Wrekin Council as they fear the town will never be able to provide the appropriate amount of affordable housing.

John Gittus of Wellington Road, Newport who has lived in the town for 42 years said: "The principal reason these two sites were approved was that 30 per cent would be affordable, social housing.

"This was strongly proposed by Councillor Shirley Reynolds who stated there was a shortfall of 124 affordable houses in Newport and that this would continue year on year for the foreseeable future.

"She was enthusiastically supported by the other five Labour members of the planning committee.

"I trust when they discuss these two amendments that they will reject the application, otherwise the target for affordable housing will never be achieved.

"I agree that there should be provision for affordable housing in Newport for present Newport residents or those that are already employed in the local area."