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23
Oct
Harrogate’s new £1m super-green council houses have been empty for a year
Five homes hailed as the most energy efficient council properties ever developed in Harrogate have now stood empty for a year since completion.
North Yorkshire Council spent £1 million building three houses and two flats on a former car park at Dene Park in the Bilton area.
The council said the properties, which have air source heat pumps, solar panels, triple glazing and insulation, were ‘the most energy efficient properties' developed by the authority in a press release in November last year.
It added the completed homes would help people needing social housing.
Andrew Rowe, the council's assistant director for housing, said in April this year the local authority was "putting finishing touches to the properties and working to satisfy planning conditions with a view to tenants moving in as soon as feasible".
But a local resident got in touch this month to say the homes still seemed empty and wondered what was going on.
NYC Dene Park social houses
We asked the council why the properties were empty, when they would be occupied and what had been the cost to taxpayers of leaving them without tenants.
Andrew Rowe, the council’s assistant director of housing, said:
I can confirm these houses are currently empty as we needed to deal with planning conditions connected to soil contamination as a result of the homes being built on former garages. We needed to undertake a programme of air quality monitoring to ensure the homes were safe and habitable.
Mr Rowe added this work was not complete and the planning conditions were expected to be discharged this week. He added: “The homes will be let as soon as these conditions are discharged.”
The council received a £225,000 grant from Homes England towards the £1 million construction costs of the one three and two two-bedroom houses and two one-bedroom flats.
At a photocall on site last year, Cllr Simon Myers, the Conservative council’s executive member for housing, said the scheme was “delivering new social rented affordable homes which make a big difference to the lives and well-being of local families”. Some 2,000 people are on the Harrogate housing list.
Kirsty Birbeck, Homes England’s manager for provider management, said the grant from its affordable homes programme had helped the council “build five much-needed new homes the people of Harrogate can be proud of”.
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