£160,000 funding boost for Shirebrook affordable homes plan

Shireoaks Enterprise Centre, on Shire Oaks Court, is owned by Mansfield District Council and consists of two office blocks and two disused garages.

The building off Bellamy Road consists of two blocks which originally were used as apartments.

Since 2004 the two blocks were leased to the Sherwood Coalfield Development Trust which subsequently changed its name to Greenbox Trust Ltd.

The lease end date was March 24 2025.

The trust paid for the conversion of the apartments into offices.

The lease was terminated by way of surrender and the property was handed back on August 16 2017.

The council’s design services prepared a scheme to convert the properties back into one-bed apartments to be let by Landlord services at an affordable rent

Kate Allsop, Mansfield mayor, told Your Chad in January: “We have people in our community who would be more than happy to have a one bedroom apartment.

“I went on the trust as a representative of the council.

“It was set up to help with unemployment in the Bellamy Road area . it was a shame it did not work out . The council has only just got the rooms back and we have started straight away . It is really pleasing to see we are getting them back to residential use.”

On January 8 of this year, the interim director of communities approved a recommendation that the council’s development manager submit a bid to Homes England for grant funding to support the conversion subject to Council approving the budget.

The recommendation was for a bid of £120,000.

However it was decided that a higher bid be submitted for £160,000, equating to £20,000 per unit of accommodation.

To accept the grant, the council is required to enter into a grant agreement with Homes England in relation to the Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme 2016 – 2021, the programme that the bid was made under.

A report into the grant recommends the council to accept the grant at a meeting of the portfolio holder for housing on October 15.

If the council accepts the grant, it will reduce the cost of the conversion of the Enterprise Centre, stretching the resources available within the Housing Revenue Account.

If the council decline the grant, they will lose the opportunity of maximising funding for its developments.