Work starting on first new estate council homes in over 50 years
Work is set to start this month on building the first new council homes on a Wolverhampton housing estate since it was officially opened by Princess Margaret in 1969.
It forms part of a major transformation of the Heath Town estate, which has seen an extensive demolition programme of vacant buildings, existing residential blocks undergo major improvements by Wolverhampton Homes, and the creation of three new play areas and a football pitch.
A mixture of 40, two-bedroom and four-bedroom council houses will be built across three sites on Hobgate Road and one site on Tithe Croft, off Chervil Rise.
They will mark the first phase of a total of up to 200 new homes to be built on the estate over the coming years, with the council set to develop nine sites in total.
All of the new homes will have their own car parking space provided and the majority will come with gardens. This first phase of the new development is due to be completed by early 2023.
Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal, Wolverhampton Council's cabinet member for city assets and housing, said: “It is wonderful to be part of this historic milestone for the city and Heath Town.
"There has been a great deal of interest in this scheme and it has taken a lot of hard work to bring it to fruition, so it is excellent to see the main works ready to get underway on phase one of delivering these new council homes for our residents.
"One of our key priorities is to increase the number of decent and affordable homes available in the city, so this development will certainly help us achieve that.”
Other works already completed as part of the redevelopment include the demolition of walkways and garages in the Hobgate Road area of the estate, the disconnection and re-routing of the district heating pipework, and the refurbishment of the ground and lower ground floors of Ling House to provide new office, meeting and activity space for Hope Family Centre.
