New homes for Exmouth with priority given to local needs

Work is set to start this autumn to provide 18 much-needed affordable homes in Fore Street, Exmouth.

The owners of the Fore Street site, Eagle One Homes, and Mi-Space, part of Midas Group, are working in partnership with leading housing organisation, DCH (formerly Devon & Cornwall Housing) and are transferring it after initial site preparation works are completed.

“We are really pleased to have agreed terms with DCH to provide this much needed affordable housing for Exmouth,” says Chris Fayers, Director at Eagle One Homes. “Work will be starting on site during the autumn and we hope the first tenants will be moving in by early autumn next year.”

The development will consist of 18 one and two bedroom flats. These will be built and managed by DCH.

Richard Connolly, DCH Group Development Director, said: “We are looking forward to providing these new homes in Exmouth. People registered with Devon Home Choice will be eligible to bid for tenancies with priority given to local Exmouth people.”

There will be seven one-bedroom and 11 two-bedroom flats and these will be divided between two buildings. All of the flats will be available for rent and a number of the flats will have balconies.

Considerable attention has been given to the designs for the buildings to ensure that they fit into the townscape. The design patterns on the buildings and windows will echo those of the existing terrace and conservation area.

“Our housing needs survey showed a real need for one- and two-bedroom flats at affordable rents in Exmouth,” commented Jill Elson, East Devon Cabinet Member for Sustainable Homes and Communities. “I’m really pleased to see this scheme getting off the ground and bringing a former brownfield site back into use and that a ground floor flat suitable for occupation by a disabled person is included in this development.”

The Fore Street development is provided through the Section 106 agreement on Spinnakers at Exmouth Quay, which commits developer Eagle One Homes to providing an appropriate number of social housing units as part of the planning agreement for the Quay.

The Spinnakers development of 14 high quality apartments at the Quay has unrivaled views over the Exe estuary and unusually offers the chance for would-be buyers to tailor the home to their own specification.

Spinnakers is the final apartment building to be constructed on the marina part of Exmouth Quay. The area has been transformed over the last decade from a run-down former docks to a high quality development of homes clustered around the marina with views out over the estuary.

Not only have the developments brought employment to the area but the sea wall around the Quay has been rebuilt, public spaces created and the marina developed providing local people with quality leisure facilities. The provision of social housing at Fore St, Exmouth is the final part of the jigsaw.