Paul Mullis, centre, with site manager Brian Cross and local councillor Lucy Hovvels A HOUSING association has started work on the development of 23 new affordable homes for older people in a County Durham village. Durham Aged Mineworkers’ Homes Association (DAMHA) is investing £3.36 million in the two-bedroom bungalows in the centre of Wheatley Hill, near Peterlee. The homes are being built on grassed land at Meadow View which used to have rows of terraced housing that were demolished in the 1980s. Housebuilder Dere Street Homes is building the homes on behalf of DAMHA and completion is expected by October 2021. The scheme forms part of DAMHA’s ongoing strategy to address the shortage of new, two-bedroom bungalows in the region.
CAMPAIGNERS are urging Hampshire County Council to “kill” Royaldown after discovering that the authority is backing the controversial scheme. The council owns part of the land that could be used to build 5,000 homes, a new road and a large industrial estate between Hursley and Oliver’s Battery. In a document uncovered by the Liberal Democrats, the developer for Royaldown states that they “have the consent by the landowners”. They highlight 215 acres of Hampshire County Council land as an integral part of the proposal. If this is converted from agricultural use to commercial use it would generate an estimated £50 million profit for the authority, say the Lib Dems.