Local connection for new council tenants
Published: Tuesday, 14 February, 2017
Work by Stroud District Council to build four new homes in Hillside, Coaley has now finished, and all the homes are now occupied by people with a local link.
The two bedroomed houses were built on the site of two former council homes which had to be demolished due to structural defects. As part of the planning permission the homes were let to people with local connections.
Tiffany Pitts and Gareth Howells moved into one of the homes with their 22 month old daughter Olivia and, Springer Spaniel Sir Marley after spending three years living in a one bedroom council flat in Wotton under Edge.
Tiffany said:
"It’s a lovely property. Olivia has always had to share our bedroom, so finally she’s got her own room and her own space which is fantastic.
I grew up in Coaley and my mum lives just down the road, so it’s like returning home for me. Also I’ve discovered that I went to school with all the other new tenants, or their siblings so we have a community here already."
Cllr Mattie Ross, chair of the council’s housing committee said:
"This scheme shows how, by careful planning, we have doubled the number of homes on this site, which are part of the 200 new homes we will be building across the district by March 2018. I’m particularly pleased that people who could not normally expect to live in their home village are able to do so, as it is a rural exception site."
This year the council’s building programme will see new homes completed in the Top of Town area in Stroud and Chapel Street in Cam.
Stroud District Council is the county’s largest provider of social housing, and the only local authority in Gloucestershire to still own and manage council houses, with the others having transferred them into other social housing organisations.