PLANS for new low-cost homes near Highbridge and Cheddar could be given the go-ahead this week.

Sedgemoor District Council’s executive will meet in Bridgwater on Wednesday morning (August 7) to approve the construction of 27 new homes across two sites.

Of these, 20 will be built by a housing association, while seven will be purchased as new council houses.

In Axbridge, the council has been asked to provide £300,000 to enable the Stonewater housing association to build 20 new homes in Meadow View.

The homes will cost around £4.8M in total, of which around £4.5M will come from Stonewater itself, Homes England and other forms of subsidy or “inward investment”.

Duncan Harvey, the council’s service manager for housing development, said in his written report: “Home ownership is the dominant housing tenure in Axbridge, where the price of entry-level housing is beyond the reach of an increasing number of local people.

“Housing affordability is a genuine barrier to someone seeking a home in Axbridge.

“Whilst the town has a small supply of affordable housing, the impact of ‘right-to-buy’ has seen the numbers of affordable homes drop since the early 1980s.”

In Brent Knoll, the council is expected to borrow just over £1M to purchase seven properties from Coln Residential within a wider development.

Of these, two will be one-bedroom flats, two will be two-bedroom terraced houses, two will be three-bedroom semi-detached houses and one will be a four-bedroom detached house.

Mr Harvey said: “These seven affordable homes will form part of a larger, very attractive 18-unit residential development close to the entrance of the village.

“The council is very keen to add high-quality homes to its stock to help mitigate continuing right-to-buys, and to meet the demand for new homes.

“Coln Residential has a very good reputation and track record of delivering high quality homes, as seen in their developments in Cannington and Puriton.”

The council will borrow the money at a low interest rate from the Public Works Loan Board, and pay it back over a period of 30 years.

The council’s executive will meet at its Bridgwater headquarters at 10am. The public are welcome to attend.