MP Bob Seely visits new Sovereign Development on Isle of Wight
Bob Seely, MP for the Isle of Wight, last week visited a new development of affordable homes at Shalfleet Meadows, developed by Sovereign Housing. Along with Cllr Shirley Stables he met with representatives from Sovereign Housing and looked round some of the 24 new homes. The development is 100% affordable, with 13 homes for affordable rent and 11 for shared ownership.
The site was acquired by Sovereign after it had received planning permission and the new homes are a mix of affordable rent and shared ownership. The homes were built with investment worth £650,408 from Homes England and £450,000 from Isle of Wight Council. Parish Councillor Shirley Stables joined Mr Seely on the visit.
Sovereign developed the homes using local construction firm, Stoneham, for the build, including three apprentices and two work experience employees from the Isle of Wight. Local connection criteria were used to allocate the new homes.
Shalfleet Meadows is the first land-led development built by Sovereign on the Isle of Wight, and this new direction gives Sovereign the control to build the quality, affordable homes where local people want to live.
Mr Seely said: “I am grateful to Sovereign for taking the time to show me round their new development of affordable homes at Shalfleet Meadows.
“I was pleased to hear from the builder, Stoneham, that the homes were built by a local construction company and that local people, including apprentices were involved.
“I remain determined that development on the Isle of Wight needs a major change so that we put Islanders first and I will continue to make the case for a distinct approach on the Isle of Wight which takes into account our unique characteristics.”
He added: “For the first time in 50 years we need to prioritise the building of one and two-bedroom housing for our young people but also for older people wanting to downsize. We need to build for Islanders.”
Liz Evans, Project Manager on the Island for Sovereign, said, “We’re so pleased to welcome our visitors to Shalfleet Meadows and to be able to show them around our beautiful new homes.
“We’ve kept everything here as local as we can, employing local people to complete the build as well as having our office based here too. We’re happy to be able to build new affordable housing for local people on the Island and we’re looking forward to welcoming our new residents soon.”
Andy Corbin, Director, Stoneham Construction, said: “We were pleased to work with Sovereign to build 24 new homes for local people. It was an honour to meet with Mr. Seely and show him Shalfleet Meadows, which we constructed with people from the Island. Mr. Seely was delighted with the quality of the finished homes and we’ve had very positive feedback from local people. Shalfleet Meadows has been very popular.”