£1m HCA investment for Totnes housing

Affordable housing in Totnes, Devon, has received a major boost with the investment of more than £1million from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to support the delivery of a new development in the town.

The national housing and regeneration agency has approved a £1.1million investment, which will be used by affordable housing provider Tor Homes to build 39 new affordable homes on the Culverdale estate.

The news comes as tenants move into the recently completed new affordable housing on the estate, which is the first to be built for rent in Totnes for eight years. Tor Homes, part of the Devon & Cornwall Housing Group, has provided this first phase of 19 new homes at Culverdale with investment of more than £1.25million from the HCA and further funding from South Hams District Council.

There is a shortage of affordable rented properties in the town, with 754 households on the waiting list requesting Totnes. There are also 1,958 households on the housing register in the South Hams.

One of those tenants to benefit from the newly completed homes is mum-of-three Rhona Curley, who has moved from a two-bedroomed flat into a larger house with her partner Howard Campbell and Molly, aged eight, Skye, six, and 18-month-old Lewis. The family previously had to climb two flights of stairs to access their flat, which was a daily ordeal for Rhona and Skye, who has Down’s Syndrome and has undergone two heart operations.

Rhona Curley said: "This house is so lovely. For the first time, we have a garden and space for the children to play. No more stairs to get to our front door, it's made such a difference to the whole family."

The latest HCA investment will help Tor Homes replace 24 outdated bungalows for older people and create an additional 15 homes on the site. South Hams District Council is also investing £600,000 in this second phase of work.

HCA investment and regeneration manager Lisa Clayton added: “Investing in delivering homes in areas where they are most needed is an important part of what we do as an agency.

“These new homes are good news for the local community and testament to the hard work that has been put in by all of the partners to see them delivered. I hope the tenants who move into the homes will be very happy living there.

“By investing this further £1.1m, we are providing more access to the affordable housing that people with connections to Totnes need.”

The homes in the first phase of this development have been let in accordance with South Hams District Council’s local Allocations Policy. Priority on the allocation of the new flats has been given to the remaining Tor Homes tenants living in bungalows at Culverdale. The new houses have been built to Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which is a higher environmental standard than a traditionally built new property. Environmentally sustainable features include solar panels to generate hot water and facilities for rain water harvesting to flush the toilet and use the washing machine, which will help make the properties cheaper to run.

Howard Toplis, chief executive of Tor Homes, said: “In recent years, there has been limited development opportunity and a huge need for affordable homes for local people in the Totnes area. With the completion of our first, entirely rented, affordable housing scheme in the town in eight years, this latest investment will help us to deliver quality, affordable housing.”