Ashford affordable housing scheme approved
A development of 61 new homes - a third of which will be classified as affordable housing - has been given the go ahead in Kent.
The development near Charing has been approved by Ashford Borough Council.
For the first time, the council will be building and managing eight shared ownership homes.
Of the 61 new homes being built in the development, 21 will be affordable homes to rent for the local community, a council spokesman said.
The borough council will borrow £1.4m through the Housing Revenue Account borrowing programme.
Under the programme, local authorities are able to keep rents received from tenants. After paying interest on the loans councils are free to make local decisions on how to manage their housing stock.
Building work is expected to start next spring and be completed by March 2016.
The Kent town has seen 390 homes being built through the government's Affordable Homes Programme.
Councillor Aline Hicks, the housing portfolio holder on Ashford Borough Council, said: "Rural homes not only enable people to remain where they live... but they give rural communities a chance to thrive."