More council homes will be built on the site of an old care home in Clifton in a bid to cut down on the number of people on the housing waiting list.
Laura Chambers Lodge, in Swansdowne Drive, has been vacant since 2016.
Back in May, plans were approved to demolish the old care home building to make way for a new block featuring 40 apartments, as well as 12 new family homes.
Ceri Davies, regeneration team leader at the council, said further design work has paved the way for an additional 12 homes, taking the total to 52.
Nottingham City Council’s senior members are set to approve the change at a meeting on Tuesday (June 16), with the budget for the scheme now expected to rise from £10.77 million to £11.97 million as a result.
“The number of units has been increased as a result of detailed design, bringing forward an additional 12 homes and taking the total number of units to 52,” the council officer said in a report.
“This will increase the number of properties due to be delivered over the course Nottingham’s Housing Strategy and keep the council on track to meet, and exceed, its overall additional affordable housing target within that period.”
She added the development of much-needed council housing, that makes use of the council’s own land portfolio, will in turn “alleviate pressures from the housing register and homelessness.”
The new homes will be built in a bid to address a significant housing waiting list, which stands at around 11,000 people.
On average people wait over four years for a home.
The housing crisis became so acute in 2024 that people waiting for council homes were stopped from bidding on properties, with priority given to hundreds of families stuck in temporary accommodation, such as B&Bs.
To address this, the council is aiming to buy and build new homes, and bring vacant properties back into use, while the Labour Government is aiming to push for 1.5 million new homes to be built by the end of its first term.
Nottingham’s housing strategy, which covers the period between 2024 and 2028, set a target for 350 additional council homes to be built or bought over the term of the plan, alongside 400 new registered provider homes.
So far, the council says it has completed 267 new build homes and purchases, with a further 33 in the process of being built or acquired.
A further 138 homes have been approved for delivery, and the approval of the decision would increase this number to 150, including the additional 12 units at Laura Chambers Lodge.
Funding for the scheme is coming from both returned receipts from changes in Right to Buy policy, and developer contributions, made under Section 106 agreements.
Following changes in Right to Buy policy under Labour, funding was made available, which opened up an opportunity to use the site for the development of council housing.
The final scheme was drawn up after the Labour Government agreed to pay £10.5 million in Right to Buy receipts back to the council in October 2024.
The money had originally been paid to the former Conservative Government, which had imposed a condition requiring councils to use money raised through Right to Buy sales within five years.
It came after Cllr Jay Hayes (Lab), executive member for housing and planning, and the council’s chief executive, Sajeeda Rose, wrote to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to request that the money be returned after the condition was relaxed under the new government.
