Update on first phases of The Woodlands

You may have noticed many homes have now been completed on the first phases of The Woodlands development, moving all housebuilding in the village closer to completion.

The six phases within The Woodlands will have a total of 202 built by Jessups. Residents were consulted about the Jessups phases of development in 2020.

Due to an increasingly challenging housing market and people being unable to secure mortgages, Jessup, who are developing The Woodlands, have looked at other ways to ensure that the homes are occupied. Working with Homes England, the Wrekin Housing Group (have bought 35 new homes at The Woodlands for Rent to Buy, a government scheme to help working households save for a deposit to buy a home.

This is an exciting opportunity for people to live and buy their own home in Lightmoor Village and reflects our mission of creating and sustaining communities where people can thrive. We look forward to welcoming new residents and The Wrekin Housing Group to the village.

To help answer any questions or concerns you may have about this change, we have included some FAQs below.

Why are Wrekin Housing Group buying these houses and not Bournville Village Trust?

Our current focus is on investing in the communities we work in and improving the quality of our services and the standard of our existing rented homes. We have also already purchased a percentage of the homes at The Woodlands and therefore, we are not in a position to buy more homes.

How many houses will be changed to Rent to Buy on The Woodlands?

A total of 35 homes of various sizes on phases one and two will be available for Rent to Buy through the Wrekin Housing Group.

What is rent to buy?

Rent to Buy is a government scheme that helps people in England save for a deposit to buy their own home. To be eligible for Rent to Buy, you must be:

• In full or part time employment.
• A first-time buyer.
• Able to pay your rent and save for a deposit at the same time.

More information about Rent to Buy is available at www.gov.uk/rent-to-buy.

We were told that around 25% of housing in the whole village would be rented, has this changed and if so, why?

Yes this has changed. 25% of homes in Lightmoor Village are purchased by BVT for affordable rented homes, this has been in place since the beginning of the development and these homes are pepperpotted through each area.

At The Woodlands this remains the same for BVT properties. Phases one and two are near completion, 18 for BVT affordable housing, 35 for The Wrekin Housing Group Rent to Buy, two have been purchased on the open market and two are shared ownership through GreenSquare Accord.

Over time, however due to various factors other organisations have also bought properties in Lightmoor Village. This includes Green Square Accord, Walsall Housing Group and Housing Plus Group. They all offer types of affordable housing such as traditional social rent, submarket rent, shared ownership and now Rent to Buy. Providing a range of different tenures and sale options ensure that Lightmoor will continue to be a truly mixed and vibrant community.

The below table shows the breakdown of the rest of the future phases. (50 homes to BVT (25%))

Will BVT and Wrekin Housing Group work together on The Woodlands?

We already work successfully alongside other housing organisations in Lightmoor. This includes Green Square Accord, Walsall Housing Group and Housing Plus Group. In Lawley Village, we already work alongside Wrekin Housing Group.  We have working practices in place to work with all organisations and residents.

Will Rent to Buy residents pay the BVT stewardship charge?

Yes. Everyone in Lightmoor Village pays the charge irrespective of their tenure

What about the other phases on The Woodlands left to build, will they change?

Jessup will continue to build the next phases on The Woodlands and will move on to phase 3 shortly. Other than the BVT properties (already agreed), these homes will be sold on the open market.

How we let our properties?

Choice Based Letting Scheme

We advertise our homes on our Choice Based Lettings Scheme ‘BVT Homes’. https://bvt.housingjigsaw.co.uk/. We allocate our homes based on a banding system which prioritises applicants based on their circumstances and their length of waiting time on the list. We strongly believe that sustainable and balanced communities are advantageous to all our customers. To achieve this we allocate properties proportionately across the banding levels. Due to the high demand for our homes the portal is currently closed for new registrations.

Local Authority Nominations. The Housing Act 1996 requires registered providers to make available at least 50% of their properties of publicly funded stock to nominees of the local authority. Where agreed and signed nomination arrangements are in place we work with Telford & Wrekin Council to accept nominations for a proportion of our homes. To access this people, need to register on the Housing Jigsaw website. https://live.housingjigsaw.co.uk/