Councillors from Test Valley Borough Council have given their seal of approval to our new development of 35 dwellings, including 14 affordable homes for local people in rural Over Wallop. 
 
The Landings comprises one, two, three and four-bedroom homes in the village close to Middle and Nether Wallop that together create the sought-after villages of The Wallops. VIVID, in partnership with Test Valley Borough Council and Bargate Homes have completed new homes that offer a lifeline to many local residents that would otherwise be priced out of an area they have known all their lives.
 
The visit from Test Valley Borough Councillors came as Housing Associations up and down the country celebrate Rural Housing Week (3 to 7 July) to highlight how new housing can breathe life into rural communities. It also promotes how rural housebuilding can be vital to the survival of important community assets and services, such as schools, post offices and pubs. 
 
The affordable homes in Over Wallop include seven shared-ownership properties that are sold on a part-buy-part-rent basis, supporting local people to get on the property ladder. In order to guarantee affordability, applicants were given the opportunity to purchase a share of the property ranging from 25% to 75%. 
 
Another seven homes were affordable rented properties through Test Valley Borough Council’s housing register for people with a local connection to Over Wallop.
 
Amongst the affordable homes were four spacious bungalows built to Life Time Home standard, suitable for people with some disabilities and for older residents.
 
The National Housing Federation recently identified strong support for new housing in rural England. Almost two-thirds (65%) of rural residents support new homes in their area if they are affordable to local people on average incomes (data taken from 'Demise of the NIMBY: Changing attitudes to building new homes – National Housing Federation (February 2017)')
 
Housing and Environmental Health Portfolio Holder, Councillor Phil Bundy, said: “We are committed to investing in Test Valley and making the borough a great place to live. Developments such as The Landings help to provide affordable housing options for local people in a wide range of situations, from those looking to get on the property ladder to those in need of extra support to accommodate disabilities. This diverse range of options enables more people to settle in Test Valley, where quite often they have spent many years.”
 
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation said: “Far too few homes are being built for local people across rural England and communities are disappearing as a result”.
 
“Housing Associations such as VIVID play a key part in solving the rural housing crisis. Partnership working provides a great example of how, with the right support, housing associations can build the homes local people and their rural communities so desperately need.”
 
Julie Porter, our Head of Development said: “I’m delighted that Rural Housing Week is shining a spotlight on the contribution that housing associations like VIVID are making to rural communities.
 
As a strong regional housing association with a clearly defined social purpose to build more homes and make them affordable for everyone, we plan to build at least 1,200 new homes a year across all tenures, making us major builder of new homes amongst UK housing associations.”

Photo credit (from L to R):

Cllr Phil Bundy and Cllr Tony Hope from Test Valley Borough Council; Julie Porter, VIVID Head of Development; from Test Valley Borough Council: Keith Sutcliffe, Housing Manager; Clare Jenkins, Housing Development Officer; Jane Windebank, Housing Development Manager; Helen Pickering, VIVID Development Project Manager; from Bargate Homes: Samantha Barnes, Customer Care Manager; Jade Henley, Marketing Manager and Andrew French, Sales Manager.