Dutch Style Home Zones for Coventry Residents
Residents living in a deprived area of Coventry will be among the first in the UK to create innovative Dutch Home Zones, which is an initiative designed to make neighbourhood streets more 'people-friendly'.
The Home Zones concept helps to make communities safer and more attractive for pedestrians and children. Residents of Iden Road, Hillfields will be working with planners, designers and artists to reclaim their residential road from traffic.
Iden Road is one of several roads adopting a DIY Streets scheme, jointly run by sustainable transport charity Sustrans, housing association Midland Heart, Coventry City Council and the tenants themselves.
Workshops bring the neighbours together with street planners, traffic experts or local artists to thrash out ideas about how the road could change. Detailed plans are now being drawn up and work is expected to start in March.
Settled Home Scheme Provides Family Home in Westminster
A former homeless Westminster resident and his three children become the first family to be housed permanently in family accommodation as part of an innovative housing scheme in the heart of London.
The family moved into their new home on the Lisson Green Estate in Paddington - one of 200 properties being bought in the next two years in the City so that more families can move from temporary accommodation into permanent homes.
Under the Settled Homes Scheme, two and three bedroom homes are being been bought from leaseholders, who want to sell their properties.
This initiative is being principally funded by Westminster Council with the Department for Communities and Local Government providing a grant of £7 million towards these costs.
The Council aim to have housed between 20 and 30 families by the end of January, with many more over the coming months.
To begin with, tenants will have an assured shorthold tenancy and after four years they would be granted an assured tenancy.
The scheme is also beneficial for lessees who are looking to sell their properties, especially during such a turbulent time on the property market.
