Council property company to be wound down

Mansfield District Council has decided to wind down its property development company after its first and only project is completed in the New Year.

The council’s executive mayor, Andy Abrahams has taken a decision to wind down Mansfield Homes, which was set up in 2014 with the aim of building about 220 two to five-bedroom homes.

The original aim of the company was to sell the homes on the open market to help meet housing demands in the district n and generate income to pay for council services.

It used a £8.8m loan from the council to fund its first project – Wildflower Rise – to build 23 executive homes.

Work on the Wild Flower Rise homes is scheduled to be complete in the new year.

Once the Wildflower Rise have been sold and the loan to the council repaid and all profits from the company shared back to the council, the company will cease trading.

In a statement, the council said it will remain listed with Companies House as a dormant company.

‘The focus of the council is currently to concentrate on providing more affordable housing with the announcement of plans to build 300 council homes for rent and shared ownership over the next four years,’ said the council’s head of housing, Jill Finnesey.

Mansfield’s governance and ethics committee has also recommended a new investment strategy for approval by full council on 19 November.