Five year £268m plan for housing is unveiled

Work is well under way at the former Kelso High School.

A five-year £268m plan for the provision of more than a thousand affordable homes across the Scottish Borders is to be unveiled next week.

The Covid pandemic has had a massive impact on housing provision locally, causing delays to proposed site starts and completions as a result of the Scottish construction sector being closed between March and July 2020.

Fortunately, the construction industry is recovering and latest figures – for March 2022 – show there were 329 affordable homes under construction within the Borders.

On Tuesday, October 4, members of the council’s decision-making Executive Committee will consider a Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for 2023-2028 document prepared by Donna Bogdanovic, the council’s lead officer for housing strategy and development.

In total the SHIP sets out proposals for up to 1,320 new affordable Borders homes at an estimated investment value in the region of £268m over the five year period.

Together with the envisaged completion of 165 homes before the end of the financial year 2022/23 it will mean that around 1,491 homes could potentially be delivered to Borders communities over the next six years.

Working in partnership, particularly with Registered Social Landlords, the aim is to deliver a range of affordable, safe, energy efficient and attractive homes and places, through extra care housing in Kelso, Hawick and Eyemouth, local area regeneration, more rural housing, more housing for people with particular needs, including wheelchair users, as well as general needs housing at affordable rent.

Among the estimated project completions for 2023-24 are 57 homes at Comrades Park East at Chirniside, 52 properties at the former Kelso High School and 25 as part of an ongoing development in Beech Avenue in Galashiels.

On the agenda for 2024/25 are 64 homes at the ex-Earlston High School, 59 at Duns Road in Coldstream and 35 at Heather Mill in Selkirk.

Councillor Robin Tatler, the council’s executive member for communities and executive, said: “I am certain that the affordable housing development identified in the SHIP will have a major positive contribution to improving the quality of life in the Borders.”