APRIL 2024 LEICESTERSHIRE BUILDER MAGAZINE online

24 Leicestershire BUILDER Magazine • APRIL 2024 • Tel: 01530 244069 • Email: info@buildermagazines.co.uk
Harborough District
Improvements made
to community facilities
and public open spaces
thanks to developer
funding
COMMUNITY PROJECTS that support the health and
wellbeing of residents in the Harborough district have
benefitted from funding received from developers as part
of planning obligations set out by the council.
Harborough District Council’s Section 106 developer contributions have
delivered vital infrastructure for residents between April 2022 and March
2023 providing better healthcare, improved open spaces and more sport
and recreational provision.
Major projects solely or part funded by S106 contributions include:
• Lutterworth Rugby Football Club’s clubhouse renovations – For
the team’s 150th anniversary these works involved constructing a
single-storey extension to the pre-existing club building. Within the
new extension are additional changing rooms including two en suite
changing rooms, two playing equipment storage areas, with the
capacity to convert them into two extra en suite changing rooms if
required, a rehabilitation area and two externally accessible toilets.
• Kibworth Skatepark – A new skatepark costing circa £260,0000 has
been built in the Warwick Park Recreation Ground.
• All-Weather Sports Pitch – A state-of-the-art floodlight facility costing
around £1 million has been built at Robert Smyth Academy in Market
Harborough. It is used by students, community groups and Market
Harborough Hockey Club.
Other projects include contributions towards the Pavillion in Husband
Bosworth, the footpath path in Kibworth Beauchamp cemetery, the Hub
in Scraptoft, Manor Field Recreation Ground in Thurnby and Lutterworth
Community Centre.
Cllr Simon Galton, Deputy Leader of Harborough District Council, said:
“I am delighted we have been able to allocate funding from developers to
worthwhile projects that make a real difference to people’s lives. We want
to support communities where we can and help to improve community
facilities and open spaces for the benefit of residents in the Harborough
district.”
You can read the council’s Infrastructure Funding Statement 2022/23,
which is an annual statement of the financial and non-financial Section 106
contributions, and outlines Community Infrastructure Levy (where charged)
and Section 278 agreements (where applicable) from new developments
here: www.harborough.gov.uk/downloads/file/8348/infrastructure_funding_
statement_2022-23
To apply for Section 106 funding towards a community project in the
Harborough district visit: www.harborough.gov.uk/section106
Bellway teams up with
Own New to offer
lower-rate mortgages
at Barleywoods
HOUSEBUILDER BELLWAY has partnered with Own New
to make mortgages more affordable to buyers at its
Barleywoods development in Rutland.
A new mortgage product, Own New Rate Reducer, could see buyers of
new-build Bellway homes benefit from interest rates from below 1.00 per
cent.*
The product, which launched on Monday 4 March, will be available on
selected homes at Barleywoods.
Rhiannon Jones, Head of Sales for Bellway Eastern Counties, said: “It’s
an exciting time for anyone looking to purchase a Bellway home. Here
at Bellway, one of our key priorities is putting customers at the heart of
what we do. We have a range of incentives available and our partnership
with Own New on the Rate Reducer product will have a positive effect on
affordability for our customers, giving them access to as many ways to
purchase as possible and making it easier for more people up and down
the country to move.
“Regardless of deposit size, the positive benefits will be felt by
homeowners each month as their monthly outgoings are lessened.
“Rate Reducer could be suitable for any type of buyer, whether looking
for their first home or to move into a larger property. We would encourage
anyone thinking about purchasing a new home at Barleywoods to get in
touch with us to find out more about the scheme and put you in touch with
an independent mortgage broker to talk you through the possibilities.”
Own New Rate Reducer is funded by housebuilders. Under the scheme,
Bellway will pay a three or five per cent subsidy direct to the lender, minus
an arrangement fee to Own New, which will be offset against the mortgage
interest rate to reduce payments for the first two or five years.
The product will be available across the country and is being launched
with national lenders Virgin Money and Halifax.
Eliot Darcy, Founder of Own New, said: “Our ethos is to make home
ownership and mortgage lending in this country open to more people and
we are confident that the launch of the Own New Rate Reducer will achieve
that.
“We believe that Rate Reducer will be a significant boost to many people’s
home-buying dreams.
“This is just the product to stimulate the housing market and to give more
people a helping hand and initial boost to get onto the property ladder or to
secure that new home that will give them the extra space they need.”
Eliot set up Own New having felt frustrated when in the process of buying
his first home. His aim was to create a more accessible system of mortgage
lending for future new-build buyers.
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