New Beginning For Bozeat

Pit Field Close will provide seven affordable homes for people with close ties to the village. It is the result of extensive work by a partnership of councils, housing associations and landowners and has been designed and built to a level of sustainability with energy-saving features, including solar panels, which will reduce fuel bills and the environmental impact of the houses. The keys of number 2 will be handed over to the new tenant by the Deputy Mayor of Wellingborough, Cllr Eileen Higgins, who will join other councillors and officers from the Borough Council, the Duchy of Lancaster, Bozeat Parish Council and Northants Rural Housing Association for the ceremony. Six of the houses will be rented and the seventh a shared ownership. The development will include an orchard, which is being planted for the shared benefit of the residents. Bozeat Parish Council contacted Northants Rural Housing Association in 2004 after realising that some local residents were being forced to move out of the village because of rising housing costs. A housing needs survey was carried out and a need for more affordable housing within the village was identified. Although the site chosen for the development, on land owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, is outside the village envelope, permission was granted for the go ahead because of the evidence of housing need.