New Houses For Hunts?

14 May 2010, 06:00 | Updated: 18 May 2010, 11:39

A public consultation has started, as Huntingdonshire District Council starts to work out where 5,000 new homes will be built.

It's all part of the council's "strategic housing land availability assessment", which is to work out which sites are suitable for housing.

Some landowners in Huntingdonshire have put forward their land for potential development in future, so this assessment looks at which of that land is suitable to build homes on.

The type of houses the district council wants built is called "rural exception housing."

This is to provide low cost homes in rural areas, like villages, specifically for existing or former local residents who are in need of housing.

The new homes are needed because Huntingdonshire has been identified as a "growth area", where the population is likely to grow.

This means that in total, 14,000 new homes need to be built.

Around 9,000 of those are already being built or have full planning permission.

This leaves the district council needs to work out where to put the remaining 5,000 new homes.

Steve Ingram, from Huntingdonshire District Council, said: "It's an early stage of the process.

As we consult with the communities on these proposals put forward by landowners, those proposals will then be narrowed down into options which the council will be able to pick the most sustainable ones from."

This is the second of two stages of the assessment.

Earlier this year, a consultation was started into market housing, and later this year, the final part of the process will look into where new gypsy and traveller sites should be built in Huntingdonshire.

Click here to find out more about the consultation.