Affordable homes for local people: Newton Abbot gets 15 more

By PRSD, on Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A new development of 15 affordable homes in Newton Abbot is underway, and to be named after former Teignbridge councillor and stalwart of affordable homes for local people, Brian Berman.

The development will feature 10 one-bed and five two-bed flats, all of which will be allocated to applicants on Teignbridge Council’s rented housing list.

The new development takes the place a row of largely derelict houses which had beomce uneconomical to repair and includes high levels of thermal and acoustic insulation, water saving appliances and Photovoltaic roof panels to help the development meet the national Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which should make them cheaper to run and friendlier to the environment.

The development, Berman Court in Clarendon Road, Newton Abbot, is named in memory of Brian Berman, who died unexpectedly in September 2008. He had served for many years as Teignbridge’s Executive Member for Housing, before taking on responsibility for Communities and Regulation in April 2008.

The cost is said to be £1.6 million funded by a grant from the Housing and Communities Agency (£750k) and by Westcountry Housing (£850k).

Teignbridge asset management picked up an award for its canny use of assets and a poll found that Teignbridge is 14th in the happiest places to live.

posted by Cptn

(images: Top: Helen Holgate (Wecountry Housing), Cllr Ray Frost (Teignbridge Executive Member for Housing), Julian Tuck (chief executive of Westward Housing Group), and Kevin Lovell (site manager for Coyde Construction) in front of the development.
Above: an artist’s impression of a car park… sorry… development)

• How affordable is Devon for people who work in Devon? Comments below, please