Groundwork is underway on an Oxford City Council development of 10 new council homes in Warren Crescent.
Council housing company OX Place and contractors RJ Leighfield & Sons have begun the process of building 10 three-bed homes and are currently working on a sustainable drainage system for the site.
Set up by the council in 2016, OX Place aims to build more than 2,000 new homes for rent and sale in and around Oxford in the next 10 years. These will include more than 1,100 council homes providing the genuinely affordable housing that Oxford needs.
When completed in summer 2023, the new homes will be let to people on the council’s housing register. Four will be let at social rent and the remaining six homes will be let at affordable rent levels.
Social rent is calculated with reference to the size and value of a home and average regional incomes. In Oxford, this is typically around 40% of equivalent private rents.
While the government has defined affordable rent as up to 80% of an equivalent private rent, the council’s tenancy strategy bases it on local housing allowance (LHA) levels. For council tenants, affordable rent is around 60-65% of the rent a private tenant would pay.
Enhanced building fabric and air tightness standards, together with the use of solar panels, mean that the new homes will be highly energy efficient.
The development is being supported with £460,000 in funding from the Oxfordshire Housing and Growth Deal.
“OX Place are delivering the homes that Oxford needs and Warren Crescent will provide an affordable new home for 10 families on our housing register. Oxford’s housing crisis is the sum of thousands of individual crises and each new council home can make a life-changing difference in a starkly unequal city.”
Councillor Alex Hollingsworth, Cabinet Member for Planning and Housing Delivery
“OX Place’s mission is to deliver high quality, sustainable and affordable homes for the people of Oxford. Each new home is a step in our journey to build more than 2,000 homes in the next 10 years and I’m happy we’ve now started work on delivering 10 of them at Warren Crescent.”
Helen Horne, Managing Director of OX Place
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