A NEW development providing 60 affordable homes has officially opened in Fairford.

Keble Fields is a brand-new development of affordable homes for rent and shared ownership.

Social housing provider Stonewater worked in partnership with Cotswold District Council and Bovis Homes, to deliver the much-needed homes as part of a larger development that is bringing a total of 120 homes to the area.

The traditionally designed Cotswold homes have been exclusively built for local people with a connection to Fairford, to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing in the area.

Keble Fields provides a mix of 40 affordable homes for rent, ranging from one-bedroom apartments to three-bedroom houses.

A further 20 houses – twelve two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom houses – have been built for shared ownership.

Shared ownership is Stonewater’s part-buy and part-rent scheme, which gives more people an affordable way to purchase a brand-new home.

“Stonewater has been working closely with Cotswold District Council in recent years to address the lack of affordable housing in the area,” said James Bradbury, director of development operations at Stonewater.

“We’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve with the Keble Fields development as it means more families have been given the chance to get their foot on the property ladder and stay in the local community.”

Councillor Lisa Spivey, cabinet member for housing and homelessness, said: “With a shortage of affordable housing in the area, it’s really important to me that local people aren’t priced out of the towns or villages they grew up in.

"These new homes in Fairford have been built to help more families stay closer together and I’m delighted to see they’re ready and available right now.”

Supriya Ray, regional managing director at Bovis Homes added: “Keble Fields is a wonderful location in Fairford that has proved extremely popular with Bovis Homes house buyers.

"Bovis Homes is proud of its links with the town and to support new affordable homes at Keble Fields and similar developments in Faringdon Fields, Faringdon and Townsend Place, Shrivenham.”

Conservative Cllr Stephen Hirst, former housing cabinet member at CDC said: "This development was built and completed last year after a significant amount of hard work by Cotswold Conservatives to approve this development.

"I am delighted with the number of affordable homes it contains, and also pleased a number of residents were able to move in before Christmas.

"The CDC Conservative group had a fantastic track record of hitting our affordable homes targets on a wide front throughout the district.

"This was a major priority of the Conservative group, and I was very happy when we hit our affordable homes yet gain last year.

"I only hope the current administration continue our record, and hit the affordable homes target again this year."