Work on Coventry Eastern Green housing scheme to begin in autumn

Countryside Partnerships is working with social housing provider Citizen to deliver the homes

Work on the first phase of a 2,400-home development on former green belt land in Coventry is to begin in the autumn.

About 250 homes, 62 of them affordable, have been approved by the city council to be built at Eastern Green as part of the initial work.

Developers Countryside Partnerships said the homes were "much-needed" to the western side of the city.

Community centres and a primary school are also part of the wider plans at what will be known as Pickford Gate.

The area of land at Eastern Green was declassified as green belt and allocated for more than 2,000 homes in 2017 under the Coventry local plan.

The local authority's approval also comes after the council reported more people than ever were waiting in temporary housing because of a lack of supply.

"Coventry currently has the highest number of households who are living in temporary accommodation that we have experienced," a briefing by the council's housing and homelessness lead said last month.

"Many of these people are waiting for a permanent offer of housing from the city's housing register but supply is significantly short of what is required to meet this demand."

Plans show that 37 of the affordable homes in phase one of the development will be social or affordable rent and the rest shared ownership.

Adam Daniels, divisional managing director at Countryside Partnerships Midlands, said the scheme would create "a place in which people can thrive as part of a flourishing new community".