BORDON is set to miss out on a cut of a massive government grant towards affordable homes in the district.
The government has allocated £3m from the Housing CorporationÕs Housing Challenge Fund for affordable homes on the Ramshill site, in Petersfield, with a further £3.3m allocated for two sites in Alton.
The Treloar Hospital site in Alton has been allocated £2.5m and a further £781,000 will go to the development next to Alton College.
The extra funding means that much-needed affordable housing in the two towns could become available sooner than expected, but Bordon will not be getting any of the cash.
The money comes after East Hampshire District Council, and its partner housing associations, were asked to bid for grant funding for projects that had already been given planning permission.
The total grant of £6.3m for EHDC is the biggest for any authority in the county and councillor John Venning, cabinet member with responsibility for housing, said that the extra funding was great news for the community of East Hampshire.
ÒIt is extremely good news because we can provide more housing than we might otherwise have been able to do,Ó he said.
Mr Venning added that the credit for the successful bid must go to the officers at EHDCÕs housing department.
Julia Potter, head of housing at EHDC, said the money would have positive knock on benefits for the councilÕs housing provisions.
ÒThe money will fund some of the units (at Ramshill), we will still need to put some money in,Ó she said.
ÒWe would have been looking at finding £5m ourselves if the government had not come up with this money.
ÒIt will have a knock on benefit. Instead of taking all our money for just one or two schemes we can now look to fund other schemes that become available.Ó
Mrs Potter also said that the cash injection could mean that affordable homes at the Ramshill site are made available sooner because the funding has now been secured.