Minister for Housing visits new Northampton council housing development

12 December 2023

Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH) and West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) welcomed a visit from the new Minister for Housing, Lee Rowley, alongside Alex Burghart MP to one of their council housing developments in Northampton yesterday.

Steve Feast, NPH CEO, along with Stuart Timmis, WNC Executive Director of Place, Economy and Environment, gave Mr Rowley and Mr Burghart a tour of the site on New South Bridge Road, which will comprise of 28 one and two-bed flats when finished. The ministers were delighted to see positive progress on this site which will deliver much-needed council housing on behalf of WNC.

Accompanying the ministers were Andrew Lewer MP for Northampton South, WNC Leader Cllr Jonathan Nunn, WNC Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Housing Cllr Adam Brown, and WNC Cabinet Member for Finance Cllr Malcolm Longley.

The development at New South Bridge Road has demonstrated how NPH, working closely with WNC and local suppliers, can achieve great quality, fit-for-purpose family homes that will serve our community for years to come.Steve Feast, Chief Executive of NPH, which manages council housing tenancies in Northampton as well as developing new homes

The New South Bridge Road development is of particular interest to Mr Rowley, due to an essential funding contribution received from the Department of Levelling Up and Communities (DLUHC) via the One Public Estate programme.

The funding awarded to WNC was through the Brownfield Land Release Funding (BLRF) scheme which aims to unlock council-owned sites for housing by addressing site viability issues. Prior to commencement of the building works last year, the former brownfield land had been unused for several years and the funding from the DLUHC enabled extensive remedial works to completely clear the site and make it suitable for development into housing.

We want to build the new homes people need and brownfield land in places like Northampton is crucial to delivering the Long-Term Plan for Housing.

Our £470,000 funding will transform this unloved and unused brownfield site into a thriving new neighbourhood, help more families on to the property ladder and deliver the affordable homes that this community needs.Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Lee Rowley MP

It was a pleasure to welcome Mr Rowley and Mr Burghart to Northampton to see first-hand the high-quality affordable homes that we are building.

The New South Bridge Road development is one of many social housing projects in the pipeline being delivered in West Northamptonshire as we continue to take significant steps towards providing more affordable housing and sustaining the national housing demand.

We are grateful for the £470,000 funding from central Government’s Brownfield Land Release Fund which has enabled us to work with local contractors to deliver this project on what was formerly undeveloped land. We look forward to seeing the project completion next year.Cllr Adam Brown, Deputy Leader of West Northamptonshire Council and Cabinet Member for Housing, Culture and Leisure

The development is currently on schedule and predicted for completion late summer 2024.

Find out more about Northamptonshire Partnership Homes.