Home sweet home

ALL moved in . . . Mark, Emma and Jake outside their home in Churchill Gardens

REGENERATION is well underway in Derker and families have begun moving into new homes.

Over 80 per cent of the first plots on the site have been sold or reserved, a decade after work first started on the development.

Plans stalled in March 2011 when the Government ended its Housing Market Renewal Fund, leaving large parts of Derker idle. Developers Keepmoat stepped in to kick-start work at Churchill Gardens last year, and this week the site welcomed its first residents since 2004.

Keepmoat will build 36 two-bedroom, 116 three-bedroom and 13 four-bedroom homes at Churchill Gardens, with 126 of the new homes for private sale.

Guinness Northern Counties will own the remaining 39 rental properties in at Churchill Gardens.

A new development of 12 family homes for affordable rent by the local housing provider has also begun at a site in nearby Acre Lane, with completion due next March. The three-bed homes will be let to applicants on the council housing waiting list.

Keepmoat is also constructing 115 homes at Suthers Court, off Edward Street, bringing the total in Oldham to 280.