Tenants and representatives of Brighton and Hove City Council inspected the site for the first new council house building in the city for 30 years.
The council said that it had put in a bid to the government’s Homes and Communities Agency to build homes for social rent.
It intends to redevelop Ainsworth House, an ageing sheltered housing scheme in Wellington Road, Brighton.
In its place would be 15 affordable homes made up of
- three four-bedroom houses with gardens
- two two-bedroom flats that are fully wheelchair accessible and have gardens
- five one-bedroom flats.
All the homes would be owned and managed by the council, which would also contribute land and money for the project.
The council said that housing demand massively outstripped supply in the city, with 10,000 applicants on the housing register.
It also said that there was a shortage of family sized homes.
Currently there are 186 families waiting for four bed homes.
The council’s cabinet member for housing, Councillor Maria Caulfield, said: “We hope this will be the first of many new housing scheme working closely with tenants to provide more badly needed homes in the city.
“The scheme we’ve put forward is for new top quality homes that meet tough environmental and security standards.
“We’ve also underlined how we intend to use the project to help the local labour market and create apprenticeships.”
If the bid is successful, the council said that a full process of procurement and seeking planning permission would follow.
It is expected that the new homes will be ready for new tenants to move into in early 2012.
