Council house hope

The first council homes for more than 30 years could be built in Oldham next year.

First Choice Homes Oldham, the company that manages Oldham’s council housing, has been given the green light to bid for grants to build new homes.

FCHO chief executive Hugh Broadbent said: “A developer has approached us and offered us properties off the shelf.

“There are about 50 properties, some a third built, some less, and some just plots.”

Four sites owned by Oldham Council which used to have council housing on them have also been identified for new-builds, although the areas are not being revealed. They could hold about 70 homes.

Funding will come from a housing corporation grant and a loan paid for by the rents charged on the new homes. The details are still being assessed, and the sites need planning permission.

Mr Broadbent added: “ We hope the Housing Corporation will support these developments, as they are keen to see new providers help achieve the Government’s new building target.

“We expect to put a formal proposal to them next month, with development starting in 2009.

“If schemes are viable on these four sites we could see more than 70 family homes built, including some for disabled families, with hopefully more sites coming forward.

“The homes would be rented out direct by FCHO. The right to buy would not apply. Rents would be same as for housing association homes and would be very affordable — about £75 per week.

“Similar financial viability tests and negotiations with the private developer are under way. If a deal can be done, this would see new FCHO homes available much sooner than building from scratch.

“We are seeing more and more homes that were bought under the right-to-buy coming on to the market empty.

“In many cases this is due to repossession. It may be possible and appropriate for the council or FCHO to buy up some of these homes and rent them out.”






The last council houses acquired by Oldham Council were in Bentley Street, Chadderton, in 1990, bought by bartering land with a housing developer. The last homes built by the council were probably at Charles Morris Court, a sheltered housing scheme, in Failsworth in 1988.