North Kesteven District Council, and its predecessors, have built council homes for people in need of quality affordable housing for many years. Over time, design, style and standards of thermal performance have changed greatly.
- From 1953 large houses built to the Parker Morris spatial standards were constructed.
- The 1960s and the modern thinking for high-rise inspired three-storey, centrally heated blocks.
- A big building programme of 200 properties a year, in the 1970s and 80s, saw modern standards for full gas central heating, 4 inches of loft insulation and cavity wall insulation.
At its peak North Kesteven District Council had more than 5,500 houses in its stock, which dropped to 3,800 through ‘Right to Buy’.
In 1983 the Government placed a moratorium on local authority building and over the next 25 years, NKDC worked with housing associations giving its land away free to benefit from tenancy nomination rights.
In 2009 NKDC was at the forefront when Government allowed local authorities to start building once again; pioneering the first council houses built from straw as one of its very first projects. The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funded 50% of this initial project and has since gone on to provide NKDC with over £3 million in grants for new build projects.
The provision of comfortable, quality homes remain a strong priority for the council, with ambitious plans to create many more houses for people who need a home across the district and to continue to build them in an innovative, energy efficient way to NK’s exacting standards so that they are easy and affordable to live in.
Key ambitions
- Facilitate the provision of community infrastructure to align with housing growth.
- Provide high quality services for both housing and tackling homelessness, recognising the additional cost of living pressures now faced.
- Maintain, improve and futureproof housing.
- Deliver homes that are affordable and meet the full range of needs and the net zero ambitions of the Local Plan.
What we plan to do
- Work with developers to deliver more homes in the district that are built to higher environmental and Energy conscious specification.
- Continue to invest in line with HRA business plan to deliver more affordable rental choice locally.
- Finalise a regeneration of Grinter House in North Hykeham, expanding provision to 32 units for mixed use.
- Begin a project in Sleaford to build Extra Care apartments for older people and supported living accommodation for people with specific needs, promoting independent living across 52 units.
- The Council will begin to build homes for open market sale.
- Promote housing growth that meets the current and emerging needs of North Kesteven.
What we have done recently
- Provided, over 14 years up to April 2024, 563 new or regenerated homes through various programmes, including Council HRA new-build, Lafford Homes, regeneration and buyback.
- Won the housing category in 2023’s national LGC Awards in recognition of the Council’s broad principles and strategies for building climate-conscious net-zero housing and making homes better and cheaper to live in.
- Built eight Passivhaus dwellings at Potterhanworth, part of the new CO2sy Homes Standard for comfortable, climate-protecting homes, adding to two existing Passivhaus dwellings at Heckington.
- Increased access to, and availability of, private rental homes through Council investment into its Lafford Homes operation, including 42 in Waddington and 20 in Metheringham and 6 at Holdingham.
Our longer-term plans
- To progress the Council’s net zero standards.
Why it matters
A strong and multi-awarded commitment to increasing the availability, accessibility and sustainability of housing across all tenures has long informed our approach to housing.
- A drive to build-up the quality and quantity of homes across all tenures – council, social, affordable, privately-rented and owned – and to respond to housing need, informs a spectrum of approaches which seek to secure sufficient comfortable, cost-effective and climate-protecting homes.