Much-needed affordable rural homes open in Steppes

Raglan Housing celebrated the creation of much-needed affordable rural housing this month with the official opening of Nine Barrow View, a brand-new development of eight rental properties in Steppes, Langton Matravers, on the Isle of Purbeck. The smart new homes - which are close to the popular seaside town of Swanage and exclusively for local people – built by C G Fry & Son were opened by Richard Drax, Conservative MP for South Dorset.

1. Resident Gemma Gill and son Oscar cut the ribbon at the opening of Nine Barrow view in Steppes (from left): Lisa Sparshott, Raglan Development Officer; Richard Drax MP; Richard Stevenson, Raglan Business Development Director; residents: Gemma and Oscar Gill; Peter Hammond, Raglan Board Member; Cllr Peter White-Langton, Matravers Parish Council; Andy Durant, Contracts Manager, CG Fry and Son; Rebekah Terrell, Raglan Regional Housing Manager

Nine Barrow View, which the housing association has delivered in partnership with Purbeck District Council, Langton Matravers Parish Council and regional contractors C G Fry, was financed by Raglan with an additional £155,000 of grant funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.

Richard Drax MP said: "I was both impressed by the location and standard of these homes, which are much needed in areas like ours. The development was sensitively done, with clearly a lot of thought going into the design of the house and the high grade fittings. What I also liked was the fact there was room for all the families to breathe and take in the glorious view across Purbeck. These homes are an example of what can be achieved if everyone works together and now eight local families have the security of a home in an area they simply could not afford to live in otherwise."

Chronic affordable housing shortage

The scheme with its stunning coastal and countryside views, provides a mix of four two-bedroom flats and two two-bedroom houses each accommodating up to four people; and two three-bedroom houses for up to five people. The homes are all self-contained with their own gardens. The north side of the development has been designed to provide open space and a children’s play area for residents.

“The chronic shortage and high cost of rural housing in the Purbeck area is forcing many families and young people on modest incomes to leave their communities, taking away the labour force which these communities rely on to survive,” said Richard Stevenson, Raglan’s Business Development Director. “There is an urgent need to provide local people with good quality housing within their communities which they can afford. These people are the lifeblood of our villages and hamlets and vital to the long-term survival and sustainability of local businesses, schools, pubs and essential services. Small affordable schemes like Nine Barrow View have a significant role to play in helping to revitalise our countryside villages, create jobs and drive rural economic growth.” 

The new homes have been built to Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes standard and are equipped with gas central heating and gas savers to help keep residents’ overall energy bills as low as possible.

Michael Dear, Commercial Director for C G Fry & Son, said: “We are delighted to have been part of this project with Raglan Housing which will provide much-needed affordable homes to the local community.   In addition to the new houses and flats, we also installed new central heating systems in eight existing properties on the site to bring them up to modern standards. The project has gone well and we have enjoyed working with the Raglan team.”

Councillor Mike Lovell, Housing and Development Spokesperson for Purbeck District Council, said:  “Meeting the housing needs of local people is one of Purbeck District Council’s priorities and this development offers much-needed accommodation in the district."   

“Protecting and enhancing Purbeck’s natural environment is another priority of the council.  The environment which attracts so many visitors to the area also poses challenges for development, with limited opportunities for large scale housing development.  The Council therefore appreciates the contribution schemes of this type make to meet the housing needs of local people and to sustain our communities.”

Nine Barrow View marks the completion of phase two of the affordable housing development which is built on a green field exception site on land directly behind eight existing affordable Raglan homes constructed in 1993. As part of the project, residents in the older properties also had their homes upgraded and made more energy-efficient with the installation of new kitchens and thermally-efficient windows and central heating systems.

Bruce Voss, HCA Area Manager, said: “As the government body responsible for providing affordable housing in England, we know how important these developments are in areas like Purbeck. We’ve worked closely with partners to help them bring forward development on this site and I am sure it will make a huge difference to the local community. It’s a testament to partners’ efforts and great to see the homes completed.” 

Raglan Housing has further local housing developments in nearby Harman’s Cross, Worth Matravers, Studland and Swanage. 

www.cgfry.co.uk 

Follow C G Fry and Son's on Twitter - @CG_Fry 

www.raglan.org 

Follow Raglan on Twitter - @RaglanHousing

Purchaser In Their New C G Fry & Son Home Within Just Eight Days Of Viewing

C G Fry & Son has completed on the sale of a detached property at Balidon Place, their award-winning Yeovil development, within just eight days from the purchaser’s first viewing. The new owners visited the site on the Tuesday and reserved the detached house the very next day.  Legal completion was achieved by the following Friday and the family moved in on the same day and are now looking forward to spending Christmas in their beautiful new home.

The last few remaining properties located on the desirable West Coker Road which is convenient for the town-centre and local facilities, range from an apartment at £175,000 to three, four-bedroom houses at £380,000- and a larger detached house at £430,000. 

All detached houses have double garages and are built in a traditional style with Georgian proportions and varying architectural detailing.  Balidon House, the former Yeovil Maternity Hospital has been painstakingly restored to its former glory and has a spacious ground-floor two-bedroom apartment for sale with two allocated parking spaces.

C G Fry & Son also offer Fern Green, Langport - a development of detached, semi-detached and terraced homes reflecting the character and charm of this rural area of Somerset.

HAPPY COUPLE MOVE INTO ‘CRACKING’ NEW HOME IN RECORD TIME

Husband and wife Mal and Chrissy Sawdy 

Husband and wife, Mal and Chrissy Sawdy relocating from Queensland, Australia, have finally found their dream house, located at Balidon Place, Yeovil.   The Ex-pats completed all legal requirements and even arranged new carpeting throughout the new four-bed detached property before moving in within just eight working days from the first viewing in time to celebrate Christmas in their new home.

The award-winning development located on the desirable West Coker Road is built on the site of the former Yeovil Maternity Hospital by Dorchester-based developers C G Fry & Son.  Each of the detached houses are built in a traditional style with Georgian proportions and varying architectural detailing.  Balidon House, the former Yeovil Maternity Hospital has been restored and converted into twelve spacious apartments which have all now been sold.

Mal retired from the Fire Service and wife Chrissy took early retirement from the NHS in 2007 before emigrating ‘Down Under’.  Now back in the UK, the couple carried out an extensive search to find the right house in the West Country primarily in the counties of Devon, Somerset and Dorset to be near Chrissy’s family. 

Mal Sawdy comments: “It’s been a long and weary search to find the right place in and around the A303 corridor and unfortunately a couple of properties we made offers on fell through.  All our belongings and furniture were on a ship sailing to the UK and we had nowhere to live which was putting us under a lot of pressure particularly with the festive period approaching.  We found the C G Fry site just by chance.  We were feeling very cranky and the last thing we wanted to do was look around another house.  Jo Warren at the sales office, however, welcomed us with a calming smile and a very pleasant manner.  She didn’t pressurise us and gave us time to look around in our own time.  I have experience in the building industry and was very impressed by the quality of the build and attention to detail.  We returned the next day and said we would take it.  We had to return to Australia to tie up some loose ends and during that time Jo was very helpful in pushing things through quickly and smoothly with the help of two very good solicitors and she even arranged all the carpeting on our behalf.”

Chrissy Sawdy says: “I really like the open design of the development and the double garages and generous gardens.    It is unusual for developers to allow so much space for each property and accommodate plenty of parking space rather than try and cram in more houses.  The place is heaven and it is a proper house with chimneys and a fireplace which makes a lovely focal point in the lounge.”

www.cgfry.co.uk

Brewin Dolphin reaction to the Autumn Statement

Economic overview: Iain Armstrong, director of equity research, comments: ³Chancellor has under promised and over delivered ­ a great trick if one can pull it off. He has had help from higher tax receipts and lower unemployment and better export performance ­ but he did start from an even lower base than understood in 2010. The recession was actually as deep as 7.2% in 2008/09 ­ the deepest in the developed world. And now he has an £11 billion surplus but has certainly not given it away ­ this was a disciplined budget. So he could make his budget surplus 2 years ahead of 2020 as previously forecast. Despite all this the market is not moving as waiting for US tomorrow and QE signals².

Stamp duty/ETFs: Ben Gutteridge, head of fund research, said, ³The abolition of stamp duty on the purchase of shares in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) is as a positive development for the UK¹s budding ETF industry. However, given product providers domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg are already structured to avoid Stamp Duty, the change is probably insufficient to entice major ETF providers out of their existing locations. This is due to a combination of factors including a well established, and successful, financial infrastructure, prohibitive relocation costs, the double tax deal with US on dividends, and more favourable corporate tax rates.

These issues aside, the passive industry is a rapidly growing arm of global financial services. The UK is doing entirely the right thing by recognising this fact, and improving the competitiveness of its offering. New entrants, providing they are of sufficient scale, may decide the City provides them with a compelling opportunity. In fact, an ETF provider with a UK domicile may use this feature as their Œmarketing edge¹.

Pensions: John Fletcher, financial planning director, comments: ³The increase in state pension age serves to highlight the importance of saving early to provide an income in retirement. The emphasis is now on the individual, not the state, and early planning to ensure sufficient funds for retirement is essential. We¹re please, though, that the Chancellor has not restricted pension savings further².

ISAs: John Fletcher, financial planning director, comments: ³As predicted, no cap has been proposed which is clearly positive news for savers, and the maximum allowance has risen in line with CPI².

Housing: Stephen Williams, director of equity research, comments: ³The Introduction of Capital Gains Tax on foreign-owned residential property will have a negative impact on Berkeley Group, which produces and sells the highest proportion of top-end apartments in London. It could also be negative for Capital & Counties in the Real Estate sector, which has a high proportion of top-end residential development planned at Earls Court and Covent Garden. Any reduction in demand could have an impact on sales and hence earnings. Currently 70% of houses and apartments valued at over £3m are acquired by overseas purchasers.²

Bank levy: Ed Salvesen, deputy head of equity research, comments: ³The Chancellor announced that the Bank Levy would be increased, the third rise in three years. The large banks anticipated this measure and hence the lack of rapid change in the share prices this afternoon. From the 1st January 2014, the Bank Levy will increase to 0.156% from the prior estimate of 0.142% of the size of the banks¹ the total chargeable equity and liabilities which, according to the Government, will help to ensure that the banking sector makes a fair contribution. This will raise £2.7bn in 2014-15 and £2.9bn each year from 2015-16. This will further hurt bank profitability and is a further headwind at a time when management is trying to increase capital headroom and reduce volatility. The cost of the levy to Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, in 2012 was £175 million compared with £300 million in 2011. The focus for investors is currently on capital build and litigation ­ today¹s news is not a surprise given the misdemeanours of the past.²

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the views held throughout Brewin Dolphin Ltd. No Director, representative or employee of Brewin Dolphin Ltd accepts liability for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents

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