Work on 1,500-home development is expected to start early next year
Garden village status has been granted by the government to a 1,500-home scheme set to be built near Seaham in east Durham, one of 19 such developments across the UK.
Planning has already been given to the South Seaham Garden Village, which will be built by a partnership between Durham county council, Tyneside-based contractor Tolent and Home Group, the Newcastle-based housing association that manages 55,000 social housing properties across England, Scotland and Wales.
Half the homes on the development will be affordable. Tolent is set to build around 1,000 units, with 750 of these being a mix of starter homes and homes for older residents, plus assisted living and dependent care facilities.
Land for the remaining 500 homes will be sold to the private sector, with profits from that sale used to subsidise the affordable housing and planned community facilities, which include a new school and community centre.
Work on the scheme is expected to start early next year, with new homes being available by 2020.
The development is expected to create around 1,000 jobs, including 500 construction jobs.
A training academy backed by the Construction Industry Training Board will be set up on the site to help young people take up opportunities to become apprentices and develop their skills, the council said.
Will Gardner, Home Group’s development director, said the granting of garden village status to the scheme was “testimony to the strong relationship between Home Group, Tolent Construction and Durham county council, three north-east organisations that care passionately about their region”.
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