Housebuilding plan approved by city council

Plans to build almost 6,000 homes in Hull by 2031 have been approved by councillors.

Hull City Council's cabinet approved a new Housing Growth Plan after being given a target of building 993 homes a year, from 2025 to 2031.

In August, the government announced plans to "get Britain building again" by tasking local authorities in England with building a total of 371,541 new homes a year, although this target was then revised and slightly lowered to 370,408 homes a year in December.

Council leader Mike Ross admitted the target would be "quite a challenge" to hit.

He said: "I think we do need to recognise that the government's target is incredibly ambitious and actually is also quite a challenge.

"Whilst we support the ambition we do need to be realistic in terms of the implications for the city."

Hitting the 993 target each year over the six-year period would result in a total of 5,958 new homes.

Council documents, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, have suggested 1,452 of those would be affordable homes, while 800 would be council homes.

The city centre has been identified as a key area for housing growth with more than 2,000 of the new homes expected to be built there.

The draft plan, which was presented to the council's cabinet, stated there is an "expectation that housing delivery comes from conversion of unused commercial and retail spaces and the building out of key sites."

The document also names the East Bank, St Stephens Place, Mytongate and Albion Square as "key sites."

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