Work has officially started on new homes in Blackbird Leys 🎉
Construction of nearly 300 affordable homes, new shops and a new community centre in Blackbird Leys is officially underway! 🤩👷
Groundbreaking marks the dawn of a construction project and yesterday Peabody and Hill invited council leaders and staff to celebrate the start of digging onsite.
The redevelopment will see 294 affordable new homes on two sites. A new district centre will have 210 homes, with 174 of these let to people on our housing register and 36 shared ownership homes. The 84 homes in Knights Road will all be shared ownership.
The district centre will also see new shops and a purpose-built modern community centre, as well as green spaces, road improvements and a special cycle route. 🎉
The Glow Tree sculpture by the old community centre has been carefully removed and put into safe storage. The Glow Tree will return to its rightful home outside a new community centre once the redevelopment is complete.
New low-carbon homes coming soon in Littlemore
We have started building 10 new low-carbon homes on a former depot site off Lanham Way. When completed, five council homes will be let to people on our waiting list. The remaining five homes will be sold for shared ownership by our housing company, OX Place.
The development will be called Youngs Way, after a former vicar at the nearby church of St Mary and St Nicholas. The name was proposed by Littlemore Parish Council.
The homes in Youngs Way will be highly energy-efficient, making them more comfortable and cheaper to run ✅. This will be achieved by high levels of insulation and air tightness, electric heating, air source heat pumps and solar panels.
Empty Homes Week 🙌
As it's Empty Homes Week this week (4-10 March), we’ve been calling on owners of empty homes to help ease the housing crisis by bringing them back into use. 🏠
There are around 695 privately owned homes in Oxford that have been unoccupied for more than six months. We know how hard it can be finding somewhere to live and how expensive it is, so this is something we can’t afford to see continue.
In partnership with owners and estates, we’ve helped bring 35 empty homes back into use in 2023/24. If you’d like to report an empty home or find out how we can help you turn your empty property back into a much-needed home, visit our website.
Government changes to short lets insufficient
As part of its Spring Budget earlier this week, the government announced new measures to tackle short lets.
In response, Councillor Susan Brown, Leader of Oxford City Council, said: "We welcome the abolition of the Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime. It was madness to incentivise short lets when cities like Oxford desperately need homes.
"We have been campaigning for changes to short lets since 2018. Alongside last month's announcement that short lets will soon require planning permission, it is good to finally see the government beginning to get a grip on an industry that can and has caused misery for communities.
"However, the government has given landlords a 12-month taxation grace period, and an amnesty for existing short lets.
"Oxford is a world-famous city and we welcome millions of visitors every year, but accommodating tourists shouldn't be a free-for-all at the expense of much-needed homes and local communities. The government must do more."
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