1,000 new homes in Chesterfield part of ambitious masterplan for borough

The four-year Housing Strategy drawn up by Chesterfield Borough Council also includes plans to acquire at least 100 new council homes, reduce the number of empty homes, tackle homelessness and provide 314 flats as part of the Waterside development.

Other key objectives set out in the strategy are to increase the number of people living in town centres, reduce the number of poor quality homes in the private sector and provide value for money services.

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Councillor Chris Ludlow, cabinet member for housing, said the strategy was ‘really important’ as it ‘sets out the framework for the council to meet the housing challenges in the borough’.

“It will play a key role in helping us to deliver the council’s vision of ‘putting our communities first’ and help us achieve our priorities of making Chesterfield a thriving borough and improving the quality of life for local people,” Coun Ludlow said.

Strategy documents reveal the population of Chesterfield currently stands at 104,500 but is expected to rise to 113,500 by 2035. The number of households is set to increase from 47,500 to 53,400.

The number of people aged over 75 in Chesterfield is expected to increase by 57.6 per cent to 15,600 by 2035.

Rough sleeper numbers were recorded as 13 in the autumn of 2019 and the council says it helped to prevent homelessness in more than 800 cases in both of the past two years.

Residents were invited to consult on the housing strategy during September and October 2019. The consultation programme included an online survey for members of the public to complete and a session with tenant representatives.

Councillor Ludlow added: “By consulting with the public we’ve been able to make sure that the strategy focuses on the most relevant issues which will allow us to make the greatest impact over the next four years.”

The full Housing Strategy is available to view here