Minister praises 'team effort' in new King's Lynn development
Politicians have heard the “uplifting” story of first-time buyers who are making a new development in Lynn their home.
Housing minister Dominic Raab and North West Norfolk MP Sir Henry Bellingham met with officials from West Norfolk Council and Lovell Homes on Friday, who have worked in partnership to create 130 new homes at Orchard Place, off Marsh Lane.
While there, Mr Raab also presented a family with the keys to their new property.
Jarek Dabrowski, 32, and Natalja Dabrowska, 31, who have two daughters Mia, one, and Sophija, three, saved up a £14,000 deposit for their new home at Orchard Place.
Mr Dabrowski said: “It took us a time to save the money. The whole process was very good and quite easy. It was stressless.”
Mr Raab said: “What you have here is a wonderfully aspirational family moving into this home.”
He said developments such as this one are a “team effort”.
“Local companies and local authorities know what their communities need.
“What we want to make sure is that the homes get built by local authorities, with the ambition like this one, and they have the support and the tools they need.
“It isn’t an easy situation, it’s a national challenge, that’s why we want to encourage local authorities. That’s the team effort we need between Government and local authorities so the dream of home ownership can be revived.”
Sir Henry said the Government’s help to buy scheme had been key to making the development affordable.
He said: “It’s a high quality development and there is a lot of demand for it. This is a way to meet the housing demand that we have.
“What is absolutely key to making this possible and affordable to people is the help to buy scheme.
“It is really encouraging as most of the people buying these houses are coming out of private rented accommodation.”
Sir Henry added: “There is a big issue about younger generation not being able to get on the housing ladder. If you have got the aspirations and the work ethic, you can achieve it.
“This is a young Eastern European family who have made their dreams come true, it’s really uplifting.”
Dale Gagen, director of corporate projects, said the density of the development has been kept to 12 per acre, and they have been “very generous” with parking spaces.
“We wanted to keep the estate so that in 15 or 20 years we can still be proud of it,” he said.
The council anticipates a profit of about £5 million from the development, which will go towards the cost of future regeneration projects.
Between now and 2020, West Norfolk Council is hoping to build 800 houses, most of which will be in Lynn, but the authority is also looking at sites in Hunstanton.
