Cost of Kettering council's first house build scheme in a generation rockets

The bill to build two council house schemes in Kettering has now risen by another half a million pounds.

Kettering Council’s Conservative executive last night agreed to spend another £651,000 on the house build schemes at Scott Road and Albert Street in Kettering, bringing the total to £4.3m.

A total of 22 flats and houses will be built at the brownfield site in Scott Road and six one-bed bungalows in Albert Street.

Planning permission was granted for the developments in spring 2019 and building was thought to be able to start in the following months, but the authority had trouble in finding a contractor.

At the executive meeting it was agreed to sign up an un-named contractor for both sites following a competitive tender, along with an agreement to spend the extra cash.

Scott Road is going to cost £3.3m – an extra £398,000 than originally budgeted – and Albert Street will cost just over £1m, £253,000 more than planned. The cost does include £442,000 worth of contingency money which if not spent could be allocated to other projects.

The cost of each house in Scott Road will be £147,000 and the Albert Street bungalows will cost £187,000 each.

The scheme will be financed by borrowing and using money come into the authority from right to buy receipts.

The homes will be the first built by the council for many years.

The council’s portfolio holder for housing Cllr Mark Rowley said: “This is a good bit of news for us. It is continuing the commitment we made to build houses in a regeneration. Another two of the four projects we have in the pipeline at the moment, getting to the point where we can start building is good news. Let’s crack on.”