HCA creates regeneration boost for Hollinwood

Oldham Council and First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) have teamed up with partners to deliver an innovative housing regeneration boost for Hollinwood.

The news unlocks a project at Byron Green which had stalled because of the downturn in the housing market.

Back in 2001 the Council sold the land to a private developer (McInerney Homes) to build new homes for sale after demolishing unpopular maisonettes and flats on the site. About half of these were completed before the downturn in the housing market.

Oldham Council and FCHO – the organisation responsible for managing, letting, repairing and modernising the Council’s properties, then worked together on a new solution.

The Council agreed to support an FCHO bid for funding from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the national housing and regeneration agency for England.

The HCA has now awarded FCHO a grant worth almost £2.1m to provide 32 new family homes to be let at affordable rents. This is matched by prudential borrowing by the Council. These will be built in association with McInerney Homes and will be a mix of two, three and four bedroom properties. The homes will also be energy-efficient, helping tenants keep running costs low.

Deborah McLaughlin, North West Regional Director of the HCA, said: “The Byron Green scheme is great example of how the HCA is helping to maintain momentum during the market downturn. By investing in innovative and effective partnerships like this, we can make sure that the building of much needed affordable homes continues. HCA are particularly pleased to be able to support a scheme that is clearly so important to local people“

Councillor John McCann, Cabinet Member for Community Services and Housing said “This is another excellent example of Oldham Council working with its partner First Choice Homes Oldham, to build high quality new affordable homes that meet the borough’s housing needs and provide houses for families who need them”.

Subject to planning permission, construction will start at Byron Green in 2010 with FCHO handing over the keys of brand new homes to tenants the following year.

Harry Burns, FCHO Chair, said "This is a fabulous first for FCHO.”

“Residents in this part of Oldham can now start living in a new community rather than on a building site. We are grateful to the HCA for supporting the project and have been proud to work with Oldham Council on this project.

“Our consultant partners, Pennington‘s, have helped tremendously and without McInerney’s commitment to find a solution which will ultimately benefit all residents, we wouldn't be announcing this project today".