Council Acquires 16 Brand New Homes for Residents
- 16 homes on new development will be made available to those on Reading's housing register
- The homes form part of the Council's wider new build programme
- Wider programme includes 30 Council properties at Dwyer Road, where work began last week
SIXTEEN new affordable homes will shortly be made available to residents on the Council’s housing register.
The brand new homes at Watchman’s Place, Dee Road, were handed over to the Council by Bellway Homes. They are made up of five one-bedroom flats (including two wheelchair adaptable units), four two-bedroom flats and seven three-bedroom houses.
The homes - making creative and valuable use of the former Dee Park Fire Station site - form part of a larger Bellway development at the site, comprising of 54 homes in total.
The Council’s 16 properties were the result of a planning agreement (Section 106) with the developer. A section 106 agreement ensures a proportion of new homes built by a developer are made available to be sold or rented at below market rates to make them more affordable to local residents.
All 16 of the units handed over to Reading Borough Council will be owned and let by the Council to ensure affordability. The range of housing will provide the flexibility to meet a range of housing needs. There is particularly a shortage of larger properties for families in Reading, making the acquisition of the seven three-bedroom houses even more valuable.
Bellway’s build specification fits with the Council’s desire to create environmentally friendly and low-energy buildings, contributing to Reading’s net-zero ambitions. The homes are energy-efficient, with some units benefitting from greener technology such as air source heat pumps to retain and reuse existing heat already generated within the buildings, along with solar panels on the roofs to ensure that as well as striving for carbon-neutral homes, energy bills will be kept as low as possible. They are also fitted with smart heating thermostats, with electric vehicle charging points on the site.
The Watchman’s Place development further enhances the Council’s delivery of regeneration in Dee Park. In recent years this has also seen a new community centre delivered in partnership with Peabody (formerly Catalyst) to create meeting spaces, a wellbeing hub and a multi-purpose hall to support new and existing community groups.
These 16 new homes form part of the Council’s wider new build programme which includes a new entirely Council managed development on Dwyer Road, where work began on site last week. The scheme will deliver 30 new homes, 15 of which will be much needed family homes consisting of eight 3-bed, six 4-bed and one 5-bed homes. The other 15 new homes will be 1-bed properties to be prioritised for those wanting to downsize and free up larger, underoccupied homes in Reading.
The Dwyer Road scheme is part of a wider plan to increase the availability of affordable homes across Reading, with completion expected in autumn 2026. These aspirations will not only help to address housing need in Reading but will also provide flexibility for current tenants to move to bigger homes as their families grow, and to downsize when the time is right.
Matt Yeo, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Housing, said:
“I’m excited that we have taken possession of these high-quality homes and am looking forward to them being occupied by Reading residents. These homes, as well as the development just starting to be built in Dwyer Road, highlight our continuing commitment to driving up both the number and standard of affordable housing in the borough, and also contribute to addressing the particular shortage of larger sized family homes in Reading.
“I’m also pleased that the homes we are providing continue to reflect our response to the climate emergency through environmentally-friendly features which will also help ensure energy costs stay as low as possible. We aim to keep up the momentum by continuing to provide even more affordable homes for people in Reading”.
Micky Leng, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Planning & Assets, said:
“In line with the Council’s ambition to provide more affordable housing, these sixteen properties at Watchman’s Place will be a welcome addition.
“These homes provided through a 106 agreement are a good example of the benefits of the planning system. These legal agreements between developers and local planning authorities are crucial in helping to tackle local housing shortages and have given us the scope to ensure more residents in need of affordable housing can access that”.