The people of Essex were in the presence a rather royal visitor yesterday, as HRH The Princess Royal travelled to Wickham Bishops to officially open a new affordable housing development.
The project, run by English Rural Housing Associations and Wickham Bishops Parish Council, was completed in May 2017 – and is part of the council’s “Village Homes – Something for Everyone” intiative.
Princess Anne was shown around one of the homes at Mackmurdo Place by resident Paige Bridge, and met other guests and partners involved for a celebratory afternoon tea served in Wickham Bishops Village Hall.
With the support of the local landowner, Maldon District Council and the Rural Community Council for Essex, 27 homes were built, including 12 affordable homes and 15 market homes – all marketed at local people.
The homes varied from houses, to flats, to bungalows, and were available both to rent and buy.
The properties were also designed to be environmentally-friendly – made to achieve maximum energy efficiency.
Adrian Maunders, English Rural chief executive said: “The visit will help to promote the benefits that community-led projects such as this can bring to villages like Wickham Bishops. We are especially pleased that HRH The Princess Royal was able to visit one of our developments in Essex, where we have a successful track record of working with parish and district councils across the county to provide well designed affordable homes in partnership with and for the benefit of local communities.
“The work that English Rural undertakes is designed to complement the needs of rural parishes, providing homes for local people in the communities they serve and support, ultimately helping to maintain vibrant, active and working villages that house a mixture of age groups and income earners.”
Mandy Mickelsen, chairman of Wickham Bishops Parish Council, said: “The parish council was delighted to welcome HRH The Princess Royal to Wickham Bishops, where she saw first hand the affordable homes at Mackmurdo Place. Increasingly the Parish Council is aware of the housing challenges that face many local households, with market prices being too much to afford in the village. The twelve new homes will help the community address this challenge.”
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