LOW-INCOME families and first-time buyers in Bordon, Lindford and Liss can expect to find more local housing in their price range in 2008. Affordable housing has been guaranteed on the Chase Road development in Lindford and in the centre of Bordon by this time next year, with the aid of a government grant. The delivery of these homes will coincide with a further 11 affordable properties becoming available early next year on the Wellington Gate site, in Lindford Road, Bordon, due to be finished in January or February 2008. More discount shopping might appear around the same time, with the completion of the Wilkinson hardware store on land next to the Forest Shopping Centre, where plant machinery is currently at work. Permission was granted last year for 207 homes, 60 of which are to be affordable, on the Chase Road site by East Hampshire District Council's north planning committee. Work has already begun on the project, run by developers Charles Church Southern and Bellway Homes, and is not expected to be completed until the end of 2008 at the earliest. But Bellway Homes, which is building 76 of the homes, has just received funding for 38 of the affordable homes out of a £2.64million grant from The Housing Corporation, made on the condition they are finished by March 2008. These properties will be subject to a legal agreement with the district council and housing associations, which states that potential tenants with a connection to the local area will be considered first. A further portion of the corporation's grant money has been awarded to Drum Housing Association to pay for nine affordable homes in Branson Road, off Chalet Hill in Bordon. The rest has been allocated to the A2 Winchester Housing Association to build seven affordable units in Hillbrow Road, Liss. Both housing associations have their own local- selection criteria in place, designed to put deserving local applicants at the top of the list. The homes will be a mix of affordable homes for rent and shared ownership. The Housing Corporation awards a grant every two years from the National Affordable Housing Programme to registered social landlords and private developers to provide affordable housing. In addition to the two-year £9.1m block funding awarded in March 2006 for the period 2006 to 2008, the extra £2.64m was made available to deliver an additional 54 new affordable homes in the district by March 2008. The additional funding was secured following the submission of mid-term bids to the Housing Corporation last autumn. One condition to gain funding was that the units could be delivered by March 2008. District councillor Elizabeth Cartwright, portfolio holder for Housing at East Hampshire District Council (EHDC), said: "I am delighted with the additional funding that has been secured to help local people in East Hampshire get a foot on the housing ladder. With property prices continuing to rise, these type of schemes really do help those on moderate incomes buy a home of their own. In addition, the funding will also help those who can't afford to buy, to rent a home at an affordable rent." For further information, contact the housing development department at East Hampshire District Council on 01730 234340. n All residents in Lindford look set to benefit from the Chase Road scheme through the completion of a long-awaited village hall, which developers have indicated may be ready as early as January 2008. Proposals for a village hall have been acknowledged in plans for the Chase Road development from its early days, with space earmarked on the site for the project. But the application for the development did not include a community building, as a business plan needed to be prepared, first stating how the building would be financially viable. Under the terms of a business plan, accepted by the district council in December, the hall will be run by a management committee so far made up of six members of the Village Hall Committee, which has been overseeing the project, and two others. Developers have submitted detailed plans for the hall, thought to include a minimum floor area of 270 square metres, housing a main room (with a capacity for about 100 people), a smaller committee room, a kitchen, toilets and a store room. It will also feature an office for Lindford Parish Council, which currently meets in the Methodist Church Hall in Chase Road. Several village groups have expressed an interest in using the hall, including a preschool, a dance troupe, a lunch club, a slimming club, a table- tennis club and Lindford WI. An official start and end date for the building work will not be known until the developers' plans are given the green light by district-council planners following the consultation process. To help with this process, Lindford Parish Council arranged a public meeting and exhibition of plans for the village hall, which was due to take place on Wednesday. Parish council clerk Pamela Woodward said: "The developers are really getting a move on and making great progress, so I wouldn't be surprised if the village hall and affordable homes are finished by early next year."