130 new houses for Clare Valley

There are 94 acres between Clare Valley and Chauncey in the South Leeward constituency. And if Senator Julian Francis, Minister of Housing and, Informal Human Settlements, Physical Planning, and Lands and Surveys gets his way, the area would be used for housing.

Francis made his intention known last Tuesday at Clare Valley on the outskirts of the site where 130 houses would be built. {{more}}Francis sought solidarity from a small crowd gathered to know if they objected to the area being declared a Housing Zone. The crowd responded with a cry of no.

Francis intends to take a document to the House of Parliament for approval.

However, five acres of land have already been secured, and clearing the site is on. Negotiations for 10-and-a-half more acres are nearing completion.

Twenty-three of the 130 houses would be Middle-Income units. Francis did not say the cost of the houses, but he justified the Middle income range, saying that they would allow the Housing and Land Development Corporation (HLDC) to recover money.

Francis chided developers who sold lands without putting in infrastructure and alluded to government’s plans to buy lands at Queensbury also for upper and middle-income housing construction.

He underlined government’s policy of providing roads, drains, electricity and water in any housing project and emphasised: “We have to maintain a value on the land.”

Francis encouraged persons buying land from developers to ensure that those needs were put in.

“Don’t buy land if the infrastructure is not there,” Francis stated.

But the Housing and Land Development Corporation has a problem. 465 persons have applied for the 130 units. Chairman Beresford Phillips announced the intention of building houses in every constituency.

The HLDC Chairman considers Clare Valley a “wonderful site,” and disclosed that negotiations for 16 acres needed for the venture as “80 to 90 percent through.”

Phillips noted that the demand for the houses was “over subscribed.” He pointed to “tangible” benefits for workers in the vicinity.