North Yorkshire Council has begun preparing the site of a former care home in Gargrave, near Skipton, for redevelopment as affordable housing, the authority announced on 9 November.
The council is progressing plans to transform the former Neville House care home, which closed in 2023, into 16 affordable homes to meet local housing needs. The scheme forms part of the authority’s wider commitment to deliver 500 new council homes by 2029 through its Housing Revenue Account, which it said would help to meet demand for affordable housing and enable people to live in the communities they want to.
01Site clearance and demolition
According to the council’s release, preparatory work was starting that week at the site on Neville Crescent ahead of the building’s demolition, which the council said is scheduled for early next year. Both the preparatory works and the demolition are being managed by NY Highways.
This phase includes establishing a secure working area and removing asbestos from the buildings, and is expected to be completed before the end of the year. For readers planning their own projects, our guide explains why professional clearance matters before renovation and redevelopment.
02Homes for social rent and shared ownership
Once the site has been cleared, and subject to planning permission, it would be redeveloped with a mix of one, two and three-bedroom flats, houses and bungalows. The homes would be offered through a combination of social rent and shared ownership options, with the aim of helping local residents access suitable housing while remaining in their communities.
The proposed scheme is being supported by funding from the council’s Housing Revenue Account and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Brownfield Housing Fund, with additional external funding opportunities also being explored to support delivery.
Cllr Simon Myers, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for housing, said: “Providing more affordable housing is one of our biggest challenges and schemes such as this represent an important step in delivering the homes people need.”
He added: “With more than 7,200 people on housing waiting lists across North Yorkshire, increasing the supply of genuinely affordable homes remains a priority to ensure local people and families can access housing in the communities where they want to live.”
Cllr Myers said the council was working with housing providers through the York and North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Partnership, as well as running a joint delivery programme with a housing developer to help accelerate construction on council-owned sites. He said: “We are also the only council in the country to use funding generated through the second homes council tax premium exclusively for housing projects such as delivering more affordable homes.”
He continued: “The redevelopment of the former Neville House site is an example of the progress we are making, as we look to transform a redundant building into a modern, high-quality development that we hope will provide much-needed homes for social rent and deliver genuinely affordable housing for local residents.”
03Wider affordable housing programme
The council said the project is one of a number of ways it is working to deliver more affordable homes across North Yorkshire. In the month before the announcement, construction started on the first affordable homes to be funded through the authority’s council tax premium on second homes.
Under that programme, the authority is supporting Broadacres Housing Association to build 26 affordable homes across two sites in Hunmanby, near Filey, and Shipton by Beningbrough, near York.
Details and image via North Yorkshire Council.
