200 new homes plan in two years
Two hundred new homes are to be built in the next two years by the body set up to revive Preston's former council houses.
But, chief executive Diane Bellinger has said the Community Gateway Association (CGA) has no plans to build "monolithic estates" across the city.
The association expects to start work on a scheme for around 20 homes on Crummock Road in Farringdon Park followed by a similar development on Howarth Road.
It is then seeking to redevelop three sites of former sheltered housing on Peel Hall Street, Deepdale; Adelphi Street and Meadow Street House in the city centre.
The chief executive said: "The plans are to do the first 200 homes in the next couple of years in small blocks like the 20 properties we have planned for Crummock Road.
"We do not want big huge monolithic estates we want places where people feel part of the community.
"I think people's right to buy former council houses over the last 30 years means most estates are like that these days.
"On our estates we have a mixture of rented and owner-occupied properties and that is what we would like to develop."
Ms Bellinger said the housing association had other development sites in mind for future schemes having recently demolished "other bits and pieces" in its property portfolio.
The CGA received more than 80 applications from across the world, including Japan and throughout Europe, to an architecture project it ran to design the proposed development on Meadow Street.
Together with the Royal Institute of British Architects and Preston Council, it intends to build the homes ahead of the city's Guild celebrations in 2012.
Ms Bellinger said: "We had all sorts of submissions which all looked different, had different types of environmental benefits, but we have shortlisted the ones we believe we can really work with."
The CGA took over running around 6,000 homes from Preston Council when it was created in 2005 and has spent 80m of a 90m budget bringing homes above new Government standards.
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Weather for Preston
Thursday 29 July 2010
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Cloudy
Temperature: 15 C to 17 C
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