Peterborough has surpassed it's target for the number of affordable homes built in the last 12 months.

In total 276 properties were completed between April 2012 and the end of March this year.

The new homes will also bring an extra £3 million into the city over the next 6 years. This is due to the New Homes Bonus where the government awards extra funds to local authorities if they are successful in helping build new homes, especially affordable homes.

Out of the affordable properties constructed over the last 12 months: 108 have become available for social rent, 44 are shared ownership and the other 124 have become available for affordable rent. The homes have been built by a number of organisations from housing associations such as Axiom Housing to developers like Morris Homes.

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The home-building programme was supported through £8.5 million of funding from the Homes and Communities Agency.

At the beginning of the year the council set itself an ambitious target of doubling the amount of new affordable properties built compared with the year before, when 114 new affordable homes had been achieved.

Councillor Marco Cereste, Leader of Peterborough City Council and Cabinet member for Growth said: "To more than double the number of affordable homes built in Peterborough over the last 12 months means that the local construction trade is being supported, and people are being helped off our waiting lists. The extra government funding that we get as our reward for helping make this happen will also enable us to support front-line council services."

(CD)