THE Government has chosen Bridgwater as the location for a new Housing Zone which will see 1,000 new homes built over the next five years.
The news came as Business Minister Matt Hancock confirmed that Bridgwater College will become a training provider for the new National College for Nuclear.
Meanwhile, Sedgemoor District Council will use £5.3million from Tesco for pulling out of the Northgate deal to pay off money it borrowed to build the Trinity Sports & Leisure Centre.
Steve Leahy, chairman of Bridgwater’s Chamber of Commerce said: “It’s good news for the town, good news for the businesses and good news for the contractors providing the development work is kept within Bridgwater.
“The town is growing so we’re definitely going to need the houses.”
The development will see the houses built on a site stretching from the former Cellophane factory land up to Morrisons Distribution Centre, between Bristol Road and Bath Road.
It is thought that there will be a mixture of dwellings on the site with a percentage of the units set aside for affordable housing.
Developers will be able to benefit from low interest loans from a £200million Government support fund in order to get work started as soon as possible.
A spokesman speaking on behalf of Sedgemoor District Council said: “The announcement will see preferential support given to up to a 1,000 new homes in the area, providing a strong foundation on which to accelerate and enhance our local housing offer over the five years.
“It seeks to build on Sedgemoor’s strong record on growth over the last decade, and reinforces and looks to build on the area’s reputation as Somerset’s fastest growing economy.”
A Somerset County Council spokesman said: “The council has ensured all new housing is factored into its transport assessments that cover future growth plans for Bridgwater, and this includes all the council and EDF’s improvement and maintenance schemes currently underway.”
IAN Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said: “It’s great news and I’m over the moon about it.
“This is the accumulation of an enormous amount of work from Sedgemoor to EDF, right across the pack.
“It’s important for the area and again we’re seeing the Hinkley project benefit our community.”
MICK Lerry, (above) Labour candidate for Bridgwater and West Somerset, said: “What I’d like to see is the development of smaller brown field sites to provide affordable housing, not these large estates.
“There are a few smaller sites around Bridgwater which need to be looked at, and we need to offer these homes at around 60% of the market value, otherwise we’ll be paying out housing benefit to help these people afford their homes.
“We currently have 4,000 people in Sedgemoor on the waiting list for housing with many of those in Bridgwater.”
ALAN Hurford, Bridgwater Town Council clerk and a member of the Bridgwater Town Team, said: “Obviously, Bridgwater is a growth area and this can only be good in the long-term for the town, and it just proves again how the economy of Bridgwater is continuing to grow.
“The site was earmarked for residential development anyway but as a town council we need to try and make sure that development of Bridgwater’s infrastructure is
matched to the speed of growth.”
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