HAMBLETON: Burneston almshouses to be refurbished for affordable housing
Work commenced at the end of April on this historic building, which will undergo a £640,000 refurbishment to create affordable homes for local people. The Matthew Robinson Trust (a local charity) and Broadacres Housing Association have worked in partnership resulting in two almshouses built in 1680, along with a former schoolmasters’ house and school room, being remodelled into new, modern homes.
The two existing almshouses and old school room, which are Grade 2* listed, have been vacant for a long time, and will undergo an external and internal refurbishment, with a ‘light touch’ approach being taken to sympathetically repair the fabric of the building. The old school room will create a ‘new’ one bedroom property alongside the existing one and two-bedroom almshouse properties. In addition, the former schoolmasters’ house will be extended to create a four-bedroom family home. Broadacres is providing professional services to support he Matthew Robinson Trust in realising its vision of restoring the buildings, which are situated in the heart of the village. Working with Moody Construction as contractor on the site, are the architect P+HS Architects, Identity Consult (employers’ agents) and Fairhurst (consulting and structural engineers).
The scheme has received significant financial backing, with Homes England providing a grant of £200,000, the Matthew Robinson Trust investing £50,000, Hambleton District Council pledging £75,000 and the Almshouse Association providing £20,000. The rest of the funding will come via the Charity Bank. Once completed in the Autumn, the homes will be advertised and let to people with a connection to the village or surrounding area.
Please find the links to the video clips of pre and post development of the School Masters House at Burneston:
Pre development interactive video
Post development interactive video
Huswell Community Land Trust, Richmondshire
Completed community led housing at Hudswell
Hudswell Community Land Trust was the first recipient of the Community Housing Fund. Villagers in Hudswell– already famous for its award winning community pub–came together to build three houses for local people who cannot afford to buy or rent on the open market. Hudswell Community Charity raised £80,000 towards the scheme – to add to a £250,000 loan from Charity Bank and a £40,000 grant from Richmondshire District Council.
“We know that many people who have strong local connections cannot afford to buy a home in Hudswell,” said Don Farrar, Chair of Hudswell Community Charity. So we are building affordable rented housing ourselves - for people to stay, or move back to the village.”
Richmondshire District Council Corporate Director, Callum McKeon, added: “The District Council is delighted to be able to support the Community Led Housing project in Hudswell as the first of its kind in North Yorkshire and we hope that the great work that they have been doing inspires other community groups to bring forward additional projects...” For more information on Hudswell, download this leaflet.
The Green Dragon, Exelby, Hambleton District
The Exelby Green Dragon Group was set up in late 2016 with the aim to buy and restore the pub to its former glory and rekindling the community spirit that had always been a special characteristic of the village and in October 2018 they did just that.
1 High Row Cottage, Exelby (Image courtesy of Community First Yorkshire)
Through a successful community share scheme, grants from Plunkett Foundation and The Pub is the Hub, and support from Hambleton District Council and Community First Yorkshire, the residents of Exelby – under a Community Benefit Society – bought the Green Dragon pub and the cottage attached to it.
The attached cottage, 1 High Row, is the community’s first venture into community led housing. The community group wanted to develop a property in the village that was available at an affordable rent, long term, for locals.
It was planned after a housing needs assessment with Hambleton Council’s Rural Housing Enabler. The cottage’s first tenant has now taken up residence.
Further information can be found on the Community First Yorkshire website with the full case study along with an Exelby blog to follow the residents journey from beginning to their new home.
Residents Journey to their new home
