Darlington council to reduce housing waiting list with new development
The development has been hailed as the local authority’s biggest new build project in decades.
In September 2020 planning consent was approved to build new homes at Neasham Road in Darlington. Fast forward four years and 21 properties have been completed with tenants ready to move in.
These homes are the first phase of a total of 150 properties due to be constructed.
The local authority have said the new builds were a key part of the recently agreed council plan, aimed at reducing the number of people on the housing waiting list.
Once the development is completely finished, the Neasham Road scheme will include 64 two-bedroom apartments, 24 two-bedroom houses, 43 three-bedroom houses and 19 four-bedroom houses.
In the later stages some properties will be offered as rent-to-buy, which the council said would be the first step towards affordable home ownership.
Councillor Matthew Roche, Darlington Borough Council’s cabinet member for health and housing, said: ‘More than 400 homes have already been designed and built in-house by our housing and building services teams as part of our commitment to increase the number of affordable homes across the borough.
‘I was delighted to be invited to tour the new properties in this first phase at Neasham Road and have again been impressed with the work our housing and building services teams have done to provide good quality homes that can be used for generations to come.’
Work on later phases of the development will continue into next year.
Against this backdrop, new residents have also been invited to take part in a consultation for a new play area that could be included in the development. If it is given the go ahead, work could start in spring 2025 and be completed by the summer.
Image: Maurice Williams
