Scottish Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan, has visited the award-winning Longniddry Village scheme to see how mixed-tenure developments can create thriving communities and tackle the housing crisis.
The development on the East Lothian coast has been created by Places for People and Cruden Homes in association with Wemyss and March Estates.
Research recently commissioned by Places for People found that three-quarters of Scotland respondents believe new developments should be multi-tenure and over 80% believe they should offer community facilities, such as cafes, restaurants, and shared social spaces.
Named ‘Large Development of the Year’ at the Homes for Scotland Awards 2023, Longniddry Village comprises affordable housing as well as homes for private sale. This not only appeals to a range of prospective buyers, from first-time buyers to downsizers but also helps to support Scotland’s vision for everyone across the country to have a safe, warm, and affordable home that meets their needs.
The Minister’s visit involved a tour of Longniddry Village, where he saw the first phase of the development, which showed the delivery of outright sale, affordable rented housing and older living properties. This was then followed by a tour of the conversion of the historic Longniddry Steading where a number of the commercial space are nearing completion, followed by the second phase of residential development, where he could see Longniddry Village’s mid-market rent offering and plans for other sales tenures.
Places for People has successfully delivered mixed-tenure communities of blended development before, such as Tornagrain in the Scottish Highlands, and believes that focusing on this way of building can remove the stigma of social housing and act as another way to address the housing crisis.
Colin Jack, production director for Places for People, commented: “It was wonderful to show the Scottish Minister for Housing around Longniddry Village, where he could see our progress and witness the growing and friendly mixed-tenure community, who are enjoying their new homes in this idyllic setting.”
“However, our main topic of discussion remained on the current housing crisis, and how we can work collaboratively to deliver the new homes required. With an overwhelming number of households on the waiting list for social housing, we need to find solutions that can support developers to build at the scale and pace required to address our housing shortages.
“At Places for People, we are committed to building new homes as we see it as our responsibility and will look to deliver 2,500 new affordable homes across Scotland in the next five years. As a social enterprise, all our profits are recycled back into the organisation, so we can focus on helping those struggling the most to meet their living needs.”
Housing Minister, Paul McLennan, said: “The new mid-rent homes at Longniddry Village will play a valuable role in boosting Scotland’s affordable housing supply. Everyone deserves a warm and safe place to call home and these high-quality, energy-efficient properties will help to meet the needs of the local community for generations to come.”
