Our scheme at Denbury is a development of 9 homes, comprising 7 affordable rent and 2 shared ownership, along with one self-build plot, in a Devon village between Newton Abbot and Ashburton. We took handover from our contractors, Classic Builders, in December 2020.
The development has been the culmination of several years of hard work by the Parish Council, Teignbridge District Council and the project team. Work commenced on site in early January 2020 and Classic Builders worked consistently hard to ensure the build was completed to a high standard, despite the challenges brought about by coronavirus. Willow Tree Housing Partnership were pleased to take handover of the properties in mid-December, enabling tenants to be in their new homes before Christmas.
The bringing forward of the site to provide these much needed affordable homes, involved a great deal of community consultation and early engagement with the local planning authority and Housing Enabling Team. All stakeholders played an important part in contributing to the overall design and layout of the scheme. At times, site constraints resulted in problems and the stakeholders worked together to find a way forward. The following comment was made by the Housing Enabling Officer that worked on the scheme ‘A big thank you for getting this delivered. I am very proud to have worked with you on this scheme and remember all of the trials and tribulations quite fondly now (oddly). I hope you feel rightly proud too.’
The exception site scheme attracted Homes England funding of £35,000 per home for the two shared ownership properties and £18,000 per homes for the 7 affordable rent properties. Teignbridge District Council kindly funded £100,000 to support the viability of the scheme, which included £50,000 from the TDC Community Led Housing Fund.
Donna Johnson, Chief Executive of the Willow Tree Housing Partnership said: “Our new scheme at Denbury was a long time in the planning and completion, involving many partners working together to achieve common goals. I am delighted that we have been able to provide new affordable housing for people to remain in the area where they live. I hope that this development, built to high standards with quality materials, will be enjoyed by people for generations to come.”
Councillor Martin Wrigley, the Council’s Executive Lead for Housing, said: “Building affordable homes for local residents is core to what we are here to do, and seeing them completed and families moving into their new homes is really exciting. This mixed development of homes shows it’s possible to deliver with both quality and affordability. We are proud to see the results of our successful partnership with local Housing Association Willow Tree Housing, developers Classic Homes and Denbury Parish Council, along with support from Homes England; most important of all, is the difference this will make to local people’s lives, people for whom a home of their own was just a pipe dream, now have a chance to make it reality – and to stay in their local community.”
One of our new shared ownership residents was featured in local press publications about her experience of moving into her new home. You can read the full article from We Are South Devon here https://wearesouthdevon.com/denbury-shared-ownership-development-opens-doors-to-residents/
