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A council is taking action against the housing crisis affecting young people by proposing to build eight of their own and offering a pioneering rent-to-save scheme.
Walmer Parish Council has decided to seek outline planning permission to build eight one bedroomed homes on land it owns at York and Albany Close.
The council bought the land from the Ministry of Defence to be used as a playground for local children but for some time it has not been used for that purpose.
Now, it has decided to explore the possibility of transforming the small, virtually unused piece of land - which is costing ratepayers around £1,000 every year in maintenance costs such as grass cutting and hedge trimming - into a valuable community asset.
The parish council intends for the homes to be for the specific use of young people from Walmer who cannot afford to live in the area.
It will also introduce a pioneering rent-to-save scheme to help them move along the housing ladder. Leases will be limited to a maximum of three years with no extensions in order that future generations could also benefit from the proposal.
Under this scheme a proportion of rents paid would be saved for the duration of the tenancy and returned to the young person at the end of the three years in a lump sum which would help them with the deposit for a commercial let or house purchase.
Chairman of Walmer Parish Council, Cllr James Murray said: “It is common knowledge that young people across the country are being forced to either live at home long after they wish to or to move away because of the increasing expense of owning or renting their own home.
“This scheme is intended to give local young people a chance to move into a home of their own and when they move on to do so with enough savings to help them take the next step in their lives.
“There are of course many details and potential problems to overcome for the project but we are hopeful that with the goodwill of the community of Walmer the exciting outline designs which have been drawn up for us by Clagues, a local company with extensive experience in this field, will soon become reality.”
The idea, which is in its very early stages, grew out of a community housing conference held by Dover District Council.
No formal planning application has been submitted yet and talks with DDC and Kent Highways are ongoing.
Funding arrangements are yet to be agreed.
A spokesman for DDC said: "We have offered advice and support to Walmer Parish Council and will continue to do so.
"We are signposting them to expert organisations, however, there is no suggestion that DDC would be involved in setting up a community land trust.
"We have held two community housing conferences, and continue to support groups interested in developing community-led housing in their areas.
"For more information on community-led housing, please see the DDC website at https://www.dover.gov.uk/Housing/Community-Housing/Community-Housing.aspx"
