BUILDING work has begun on the first new council house in the Stroud district for more than 30 years.

Thirty-five new homes will be built at The Tynings and Old Common in Minchinhampton on the site of the old Woolaway homes.

A ceremony took place to mark the start of the ground-breaking work on Wednesday.

It was attended by Cllr Mattie Ross, chairman of SDC’s housing committee, Sandra Mutton, chairman of the Stroud Council Housing Forum, which represents council tenants across the district, and Lin Phillips, a former Old Common Woolaway resident who is returning to one of the new houses.

“This is a hugely significant moment,” said Cllr Ross.

“The affordable housing sector has been neglected for years with the losers being local people who have had to move away or rent in the private sector.

“I am very proud that we are one of very few councils directly doing our bit to increase the supply of decent affordable homes.”

The work in Minchinhampton is part of the council’s £15 million programme to build 150 new homes in the next five years in a partnership with Lovell.

The last new council houses to be built in the Stroud district were at John Bevan Close in Uplands in 1983.

No new houses have been built since then, though replacement bungalows have been built on the footprint of post war prefabs.

SDC is the only local authority in Gloucestershire to have retained its housing stock.

The building programme follows a change of Government policy, which allows councils to borrow money against the value of their housing stock.