Council's budget for Kettering housing development to be upped by more than £300,000 as build costs rise

Councillors are set to add £313,000 to the budget for a Kettering housing development after building costs soared because of inflation.

The former Grange Methodist Church in Stamford Road, on the Grange estate, will be turned into eight new affordable rented homes with hopes work could start this autumn.

The now-defunct Kettering Borough Council obtained budget approval for the scheme in January 2021, setting total costs at £1,860,000.

But the ruling executive committee of North Northamptonshire Council, which replaced it in the local government reorganisation, wants to increase the budget to £2,173,000 to cover the inflation of estimated build costs. They are set to rubber-stamp the decision at a meeting on Thursday (February 16).

A report prepared for councillors said: “It is important to note that the increased budget allows for the entire cost of the development and all cost to date, including all statutory and planning fees, surveys, design fees, professional fees, and the estimated cost for the construction work...any risk/contingency money which is not required at the conclusion of the project will be returned into the overall capital housing development budget to be spent on other projects.”

The church dates back to the 1940s, when surrounding council houses were also built, but closed a number of years ago. In recent years it has been subjected to vandalism and arson.

Six of the eight homes have been designed to be accessible for disabled people in the form of four bungalows and two specially designed houses which enable a wheelchair user to occupy the ground floor. Forty per cent of the total cost of the development (£869,200) will be funded by right to buy receipts, which is money collected from the sale of other council homes to tenants who exercise their right to buy. A decision on planning permission is expected soon.

The report set to be discussed by councillors added: “The development of this site will have a positive impact on the community, bringing back into use a currently redundant and unattractive site.

"The site is located within the Avondale Grange ward, which has been identified as left behind area requiring additional investment to “level up” the area.”