Published: Monday, 21st March 2022
Cannock Chase Council and Jessup Brothers have celebrated the completion of the Hawks Green Housing Development Scheme.
The scheme, which has transformed part of the Council’s depot into 44 new properties; 22 of which were Council homes to rent, and 22 were put on the open market. All properties are now occupied. This development is the first to use the money from the Council’s £12.9m Housing Investment Fund.
The event, to mark the completion of the properties, took place last week, with Council members, senior officers, Jessup Brothers Frontier Development Capital and West Midland Combined Authority, getting together and taking a tour of the site.
Councillor Adrienne Fitzgerald, Portfolio Leader for Housing, Heritage and Leisure said “I am really proud of this vibrant housing development. It has made good use of unused land at the Council’s depot site. It has provided high quality housing for both private and Council residents.
“The scheme has incorporated the use of solar panels and electric car charging points on some of the houses which mean that the residents will benefit from reduced energy bills.”
Clive Jessup, Jessup Brothers Founder Director said “This is a great example of how Jessup have partnered with the council to deliver high quality affordable and open market homes built by local labour using latest high efficiency standard on recycled brownfield land.”
The Council successfully bid for £900,000 from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) to fund land remediation works on the site.
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands and chair of the WMCA, said: “Despite the upheaval of Covid, the WMCA has continued to invest in derelict brownfield sites to create new homes, jobs and infrastructure, all of which are now helping the region recapture its previous economic momentum.
“The pandemic has failed to stop us making the investments needed to not only unlock urban sites like this one for new homes but to also give local people the skills they need to work in the industries of the future such as construction and digital.
“It is good to see how that investment has now helped transform the Hawks Green Depot site as it has at many other brownfield sites across the region – protecting precious green belt land in the process. We will continue to work with developers to transform derelict industrial land across the West Midlands into new homes and jobs for local people.”
Kieren Turner-Owen, Associate Director at Property at Frontier Development Capital, which manage the WMCA Brownfield Land and Property Development Fund, said “It’s great to see this development now complete and the units occupied. The investment into Hawks Green Depot from the WMCA funds we manage, has enabled brownfield land to be remediated and create good quality much-needed housing. We’re proud to have been a part of this project and highlight what developments like this across the West Midlands can achieve with the combined efforts of funding from the Council’s housing fund and the WMCA’s residential and brownfield remediation funds.”
The developments 22 council homes were made possible through the Council’s Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme Housing Investment fund and with funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) Brownfield Land and Property Development Fund.