August 21, 2018 10.37 am This story is over 67 months old

Council tenants to get new homes priority

Promises for council tenant priority
City Hall, off Orchard Street in Lincoln | Photo Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Council tenants on the housing waiting list are set to be given first pick of 172 new Lincoln properties, potentially meaning an extra 400 people will get a new home this year.

City of Lincoln’s executive councillors will be asked to approve the Local Lettings Plan which will give existing council tenants priority when they apply for the new builds.

Properties will be built on Allenby Close (45 properties), Lytton Street (seven properties), Ingleby Crescent (74 properties) and Westwick Drive (46 properties).

The plan will see the council utilise the Housing Act 1996, which allows authority’s to ‘allocate particular accommodation to people of a particular description’.

Simon Walters, Strategic Director for Communities and Environment at City of Lincoln Council, said: “With these tenants moving to the new-build properties, this will free-up their current properties to be let to people more widely on our housing waiting list.

“We estimate that overall up to 400 additional opportunities will arise for people to move either directly to the new build properties or from people moving within the existing housing stock.”

The plan is set to take place over the next six months.

Mr Walters said the council normally handles 600 moves in a normal year, so these extra will take that up to 1,000.

“This is an incredibly exciting time as we deliver a much-needed, high-quality housing which meets the varied needs of our residents.”

According to documents before the executive next week, the council currently has 1,700 people on its waiting list, with 45% of those (765) being current council tenants waiting to move.

There will be a variety of properties available including two and three bedroom homes.