Gargrave care home to be demolished for 16 affordable homes

North Yorkshire Council is moving forward with the redevelopment of Neville House in Gargrave, which closed in 2023.

The site is being transformed into 16 affordable homes to help meet local demand, supporting the council’s wider goal of delivering 500 new council properties by 2029.

Simon Myers, North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for housing, and member for Mid-Craven, said: "Providing more affordable housing is one of our biggest challenges and schemes such as this represent an important step in delivering the homes people need.

"With more than 7,200 people on housing waiting lists across North Yorkshire, increasing the supply of genuinely affordable homes remains a priority to ensure local people and families can access housing in the communities where they want to live.

"We are taking a range of approaches to achieve this, including working with housing providers through the York and North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Partnership, and a joint delivery programme with a nationally renowned housing developer to help accelerate the construction of homes on council-owned sites.

"We are also the only council in the country to use funding generated through the second homes council tax premium exclusively for housing projects such as delivering more affordable homes."

Preparatory work begins this week at the former care home on Neville Crescent, with demolition scheduled for early next year.

The current phase, managed by NY Highways, involves securing the site and removing asbestos from the buildings.

This work is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

If planning permission is granted, the cleared site will be developed into a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom flats, houses, and bungalows.

The homes will be offered through a combination of social rent and shared ownership, aimed at helping residents remain in their communities.

Mr Myers said: "The redevelopment of the former Neville House site is an example of the progress we are making, as we look to transform a redundant building into a modern, high-quality development that we hope will provide much-needed homes for social rent and deliver genuinely affordable housing for local residents."

The scheme is backed by funding from the council's Housing Revenue Account and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority's Brownfield Housing Fund.

Additional external funding opportunities are also being explored.

The Gargrave project is one of several affordable housing schemes underway across North Yorkshire.

Last month, construction began on the first homes funded through the council’s second homes tax premium.

The council is supporting Broadacres Housing Association to build 26 affordable homes across two sites in Hunmanby, near Filey, and Shipton by Beningbrough, near York.