City top of affordable housing league

8.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 1st Jul 2007

Cambridge City Council is top in the East of England in building affordable housing.

Figures released this week by the East of England Regional Assembly show that 43% of all new homes built in Cambridge are affordable housing. This compares to 23% in Cambridgeshire as a whole.

Councillor Catherine Smart, Executive City Councillor for Housing, commented on the figures:

"House prices in Cambridge are rising out of many people's reach. Many of those who work in the city can no longer afford to live here. This is why we have set high targets for affordable housing on all new developments, This is also why we are committed to building quality, sustainable and affordable housing near to good local facilities and public transport on the Southern Fringe of Cambridge and to the East of Cambridge.

"The whole Council is working towards providing good quality affordable housing in Cambridge. As well as setting affordable housing targets for private developments, we have sold £2 million of City Council land at a massive discount to housing associations and registered social landlords in the last year . At the same time we are working with the Housing Corporation to ensure that local affordable housing schemes receive adequate central government funding, not always an easy task!

Cllr Catherine Smart

"I am very pleased that we have achieved 43% affordable housing on all new houses in the city but this work must continue if Cambridge is to remain a sustainable community for all who live and work here."