ONE hundred additional affordable homes could be built in St Neots. Bpha – which started life as Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association - has acquired land for nearly 100 extra homes in the Loves Farm area of the town. While sales of market housing stalled

ONE hundred additional affordable homes could be built in St Neots.

Bpha - which started life as Bedford Pilgrims Housing Association - has acquired land for nearly 100 extra homes in the Loves Farm area of the town.

While sales of market housing stalled during the downturn, bpha has continued to build homes for affordable rents and shared ownership.

The company has already built 145 homes there, nearly all of them either let or reserved, with a further 130 in the construction phase and 88 already in the planning process as part of a 'planning gain' (Section 106) agreement with the developers Gallagher Estates.

Bpha also wants to build almost 100 extra homes and has applied for planning consent.

"We're really pleased with what we have achieved at Loves Farm," bpha's assistant development director Sarah Ireland told The Hunts Post.

The organisation's sales arm, called Keyhomes East, was oversubscribed at a recent open day by people wanting rent-to-buy homes under a scheme that allows tenants who qualify for mortgage loans but do not yet wish to commit themselves to rent their homes for up to five years before becoming property-owners.