Eastlight to build 70 new affordable homes

Eastlight Community Homes has secured outline planning permission to build 70 new affordable homes in Bocking.

The new homes, on a brownfield site in Bovingdon Road, Bocking, will be available for some of the 2,460 people in the district who are on the waiting list for affordable housing.

The homes will be a mix of one and two bedroom flats, two, three and four-bedroom flats, bungalows, and houses, and all will be built to a high standard and include eco-friendly heating systems and electric car charging points. They will be a mix of homes available for social rent, affordable rent, and shared ownership – a part-rent, part-buy alternative to buying on the open market.

The homes are set to be built after Eastlight successfully appealed a decision made by Braintree District Council in 2021 to refuse an outline planning application. Eastlight will now be completing the detailed design required to secure full planning approval for the new homes.

Eastlight is set to buy the land from George Tanner (Shalford) Ltd. Former director Alex Tanner, who sadly died recently, worked tirelessly for years to rejuvenate the site and agreed to sell the land to Eastlight at a significantly reduced price in order to create more affordable homes for residents in Braintree district.

Director of Development Andrew Hull said: “We are delighted to announce up to 70 new homes will be coming to this brownfield site.

“Our residents pay rents and charges which are less than the market rate and every penny is reinvested back into our homes, services, and communities. Our Bovingdon Road development will be no different.

“All the new homes will be affordable and will provide much-needed housing for some of the thousands of residents and families who are waiting for a home in the Braintree District.”

Eastlight manages around 13,000 homes in Essex and beyond and plans to build thousands more by 2025.