Last updated 10:33, Friday, 03 October 2008

FORTY-TWO new houses will be built in Keswick in a £6m response to the district’s affordable homes crisis.

Derwent & Solway Housing Association has appointed Flimby company Thomas Armstrong to begin building near Trinity Way immediately.

The new family homes will all be available to rent.

The boost comes in the week that it was revealed that house waiting lists in the North West had risen 75 per cent in five years.

The National Housing Federation said that on average homes in Cumbria now cost almost ten times people’s incomes.

The gross annual income required for an average mortgage was over £43,400.

Sallie Bridgen, National Housing Federation north west manager, said: “Home ownership is unattainable for most first-time buyers.

“We may be operating in a different economic climate but the urgent need for new social homes remains as great as before.”

Allerdale council said that although statistics showed the waiting list for affordable homes in its area had risen from 798 in 2003 to 2,455 last year, that would include people who may not be able to prove they had an affordable housing need or a local connection. Some names were also registered with several social landlords.

A spokesman said: “The total amount of homeless applications received by Allerdale council in 2007 to 2008 was 294 (up from 122 in 2002 to 2003).

“In Allerdale there is evidence of an affordable housing need for 711 units; of this 529 are in the large urban areas of the borough, with only 142 in rural locations.”

The Keswick development is being funded by Derwent & Solway and the Housing Corporation, and will consist of three and four-bedroom houses.

Robert Porter, director of Derwent & Solway, said: “This is a very important scheme for Keswick and the Lake District and will provide crucial family housing in the area. We look forward to welcoming the first residents in 2010.”

The houses will feature heating and plumbing using either solar panels or air source heat pumps to supplement standard heating systems.

This will mean both lower energy bills for residents and a reduction in carbon emissions for the environment.