Fresh bid for cash to build council homes

A second multi-million-pound bid to build the first new council houses in Sandwell for three decades will be submitted to the Government next month.

Housing bosses are currently in the process of drawing up the application for a share of a £1.5 billion pot as they await the outcome of a first attempt to secure £1.4m towards new homes.

The first bid was submitted last month and Sandwell Council's housing chief, Councillor Mahboob Hussain, said he was hopeful of a verdict within a few weeks.

Council leaders have already lobbied West Midlands minister Ian Austin to secure support for their bids.

The first wave of money would go towards redeveloping the cleared site of the former Bearwood House tower block, in Bearwood Road, Smethwick, which could be used for 28 homes of two, three and four bedrooms.

In total, the council hopes to spend around £50m building up to 1,000 new homes.

A bid for a second wave of Government cash is now being put together and will be submitted next month, although Councillor Huss-ain said it was too early to say how much they would be asking for, but it could be for up to 100 new houses.

"We will be putting in another application for the second round of bids, but on the first one we should get a response this month."

Latest figures showed that 8,847 people were on the waiting list for a council home in Sandwell.