Investment worth more than £2 million was set aside for communities across the North West, North Wales and the Midlands by Elan Homes in 2018.
The figure includes community contributions linked to ongoing Elan developments; those that launched; achieved sell-out success or were acquired by the homebuilder over the year.
More than £1 million was allocated for education; with £500,000 earmarked for open space, playing fields and play areas.
Between them, the 18 sites have or will provide a total of 549 new homes across Cheshire, Flintshire, Merseyside and Staffordshire.
Marie Morris, Sales Director for Elan Homes in the North, said, “House building has an important role in the economy, providing jobs and supporting community infrastructure, as well as building much-needed new homes. At Elan we recognise that, as more homes are built and new residents move in to a neighbourhood, there will be increased demand for things like school places. With that in mind, we allocated £455,000 to schools close to our Flintshire developments Argoed Gardens and Kinnerton Meadows and a further £250,000 for schools near Brook Meadow in Staffordshire. These community contributions are designed to ensure that the neighbourhoods where we are building are places where people will love living.”
During 2018 Elan achieved sell-out success at Aigburth Grange, South Liverpool; Old Quay Meadow, Neston; The Hawthorns, Lach Dennis; Sycamore Gardens, Congleton; and Westminster Place, near Chester.
To help address the housing shortage, Elan launched new sites at Argoed Gardens, near Mold; Handforth Court, Handforth; Kinnerton Meadows, Higher Kinnerton and St Thomas Priory in Baswich and acquired land in various locations including Brook Meadow, Loggerheads; Culcheth Green, Culcheth; Mossley Gardens, South Liverpool; The Dunes, Formby; Lindow Fields, Wilmslow and Derwent Court between Chorlton and Didsbury.
The company also has ongoing developments at Canalside, Middlewich; Hope Park Mews, Macclesfield and The Larches, Wilmslow.
Across these 18 developments, Elan has provided or is providing 85 affordable homes. A further £420,000 has been assigned for investment in affordable housing.
Many of the schemes include areas of public open space. For example, properties at Mossley Gardens will be built around a central area of public open space to create a ‘village green’ utilising existing trees to form a key focal feature for the development, which along with the existing woodland surrounding the site will provide a leafy setting for the homes.
Elan has also agreed to contribute £34,000 towards off site public open space near the South Liverpool development and pay £3,130 towards public art.
“Having access to outside space is important to our health and wellbeing, helping people stay fit and active,” Marie added.
“In Macclesfield we’ve allocated more than £50,000 towards an off-site children’s play area, plus almost £30,000 for recreation and outdoor sports provision.”
Elan has also made various donations to good causes local to its developments, including providing materials for children at Neston Primary School to make bird boxes; funding to help keep Flintshire Food Bank’s van on the road and water bottles for Argoed High School.
