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Telford trio tell Eric Pickles that Help to Buy has put them on the housing ladder

A trio of new Telford home owners told Eric Pickles that they have finally been able to own their own property thanks to the Government’s Help to Buy scheme.

New house buyers Ellen Watkins, Matt Kent and Kate Pryce all met the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at Keepmoat’s The Croppings development at Lightmoor Village in Telford on Thursday, (November 7th).

Ellen Watkins also gave the Cabinet member and Lucy Allan, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Telford, a tour around her new home which she only moved into a fortnight earlier.

Help to Buy allowed Ellen and her partner, Daniel Silkcock, 32, to buy a larger home in Telford where they soon hope to raise a family.

The couple who are on the third cycle of IVF treatment previously owned a pokey two bedroom flat in Shrewsbury.

Ellen, who works for Interserve as a Finance Manager said: “We couldn’t have afforded this house without Help to Buy as we are paying for private IVF.

“This new home is ideal for us as it is closer to my mum, who is in sheltered housing and also close to Dan’s parents.”

Eric Pickles complimented Keepmoat on the homes they were building in Telford.

He said: “You are building proper homes here.

“These homes are getting people, who do not have wealthy parents, on to the property ladder.

“This development is important for Telford housing, as the town grows and attracts more first time buyers.

“I am very impressed by the quality of the homes here.”

He said viewing properties on the 104 home development brought back memories of him buying his first home.

The MP for Brentwood and Ongar said: “My first house was tiny, much smaller than ones you’ve been able to buy. It only cost £15,000. The Bank Manager took a chance on me, and told me ‘I think you might go somewhere.’”

Matt Kent, who set up his own graphic design company with two colleagues, told Eric Pickles he would have struggled to afford his Keepmoat homes without Help to Buy.

The 30-year-old is classed as self-employed and was shocked to discover how difficult it would be for him to get a mortgage.

“I didn’t quite have enough for a ten per cent deposit, so when I went to apply for a mortgage I was told I would have to pay a higher rate of interest and that I would not be able to borrow as much as I would have liked.

“It was hard to come to terms with, I thought I would have to buy a smaller property than I was renting or even have to do a house up.

“Help to Buy gave me the chance to buy a new build property close to my work. It is perfect,” says Matt who is a shared director of Emerge in Telford.

Kate Pryce and her partner Ali Dovey had been living with Kate’s parents for the last two years to save up a deposit for their Keepmoat home.

This is the first home they have lived in that is not their parents. Originally the pair were looking at a smaller two bedroom coach house at The Croppings but thanks to Help to Buy they could afford a larger home.

“The house we were looking at was a lot smaller. We didn’t have a massive deposit, so our house hunt was limited.

“Now we have a home that we can grow into, Help to Buy really has put us on the housing ladder.

“We didn’t want to rent a house, so we stayed at our parents’ houses for as long as we could.

“If we had rented we would have spent lots of money on something we didn’t own,” said Kate.

Lucy Allan, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Telford, said: “Around 1,500 new people are moving to Telford every year.

“Help to Buy is giving young people both living in the town and coming to work here the chance to own their home homes and the opportunity to take responsibility for their future.

“I have always believed that people should have the right to buy their own homes.

“As the job market in Telford picks up, it is important that we have good quality homes like these for young people to be able to start families and flourish.

“These homes are making Telford a more attractive place to live.”

Paul Degg, Keepmoat Homes Regional Managing Director in the Midlands, said: “We are grateful to Eric Pickles and Lucy Allan for coming to meet some of the buyers who have benefited from Help to Buy in Telford.”

Eamonn McInerney, Keepmoat Homes Sales and Marketing Director, said: “The buyer profile that Keepmoat has fits perfectly with the purpose of Help to Buy, which is why we’ve had such a good take-up of homes from Help to Buy purchasers.

“Help to Buy was created to help working people with small deposits get their foot on the property ladder.”

This development has benefitted from £1.6m investment from the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) as part of the Government’s Public Land Initiative which aims to bring publicly owned housing sites forward.

These high quality houses are part of the purpose-built Lightmoor Village which has been designed around a new village centre with a major park and play areas, and a community centre and shops, all owned and managed by Bournville Village Trust. A new primary school was also built in the village and is being run by Telford & Wrekin Council.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Hazel Rycroft .