Published August 23rd, 2019
Leading Cornish social housing provider, Ocean Housing, has officially opened its development of 57 new affordable homes in north Cornwall.
The homes are part of an £8 million project to develop the old MPG Books site in Bodmin. Built on land once used as the old parade ground for the military barracks, before being transformed into the old books factory, the site has a lot of history which has been reflected in street names such as Battalion Close and Bugle Way.
This has been Ocean Housing’s biggest scheme to date, receiving funding of £685,000 from Cornwall Council and £1,050,000 from Homes England.
The development has a mix of 20 shared ownership and 37 affordable rented homes, comprising 15 one-bedroom flats, 23 two-bedroomed and 19 three-bedroomed houses.
“MPG Books is one of our most beautiful schemes, and our first in Bodmin,” said Ocean Housing’s chief executive, Mark Gardner.
“A lot of thought was put into the design, including restoring some history from the old parade ground by replacing and repairing a traditional stone wall. We also installed a park with children’s play equipment in Bugle Way.”
With nearly 10,000 people on the Cornwall Homechoice register, and the average house price in Bodmin being *£192,031, Ocean Housing’s development has been welcomed by the town council and local residents.
Mark continued, “The scheme has a wide mix of housing which directly relates to the housing need in Bodmin. Its location is also a massive benefit to our residents, being close to the town centre, college, leisure centre, and industrial estate where many of them work.”
Bugle Way residents Angela and David Sanders are delighted with their new home. They said, “Moving here has been life changing. We couldn’t leave the house for sometimes a month at a time where we used to live. Here is completely different, and Ocean has been brilliant.”
The scheme was officially opened by North Cornwall’s MP Scott Mann, and Cornwall Council’s portfolio holder for homes councillor, Andrew Mitchell, on Thursday 22 August.
Affordable housing for local people is one of Scott Mann’s top priorities. He commented, “There has been, and continues to be, huge investment in Bodmin. The MPG Books development is an example of the quality that many of us would like to see replicated on other brownfield sites in the town.”
A full list of future development schemes and new homes for rent and shared ownership can be found at www.oceanhousing.com.
ENDS
*Source: Rightmove, material updated on 5 August 2019
