Council to spend £1.5m on flats in Halesowen
The council’s cabinet member for development and regulation, Cllr Daniel Bevan, has approved a draft decision to buy the property on Summer Hill.
Dudley Council looks set to spend £1.5m on a new apartment block of eight flats in Halesowen.
The block of two-bedroom flats will be the latest acquisition by the council which has a budget of £10m to acquire new homes for the 2026/27 financial year.
The authority decided in 2023 to stop all ‘in-house’ new building on council-owned land; however, changes in how cash from the sale of Right to Buy council houses can be used means that decision looks set to be reversed.
Notes accompanying Cllr Bevan’s draft decision said: “The council now have an appetite and capacity to build again, and a number of stalled sites are under review at present.
“It is anticipated several sites will be submitted for planning this financial year, and if planning is approved the earliest likely completion of new homes ready for let shall be winter 2027.
“There remains an ongoing need to acquire new homes for let as the council continues to disinvest and dispose of existing dwellings which are no longer fit for purpose.”
Since 2025 the council can keep all receipts from Right to Buy sales. Previously a proportion was returned to central government.
Councils now also have longer to spend the cash and there are no restrictions on the number of homes councils can buy compared to how many they build.
Dudley currently has £5.3m committed to negotiations to buy new homes for council housing.
Notes on the Summerhill Road deal reveal an initial offer of £1,440,000 for the eight apartment block was rejected by the developer before a price of £1,510,000 was agreed.
The decision notes said: “The proposed purchase is considered to offer reasonable value for money and reflective of current market conditions, so justified given the specific characteristics of the site, including its favourable location, strong connectivity to local amenities and public transport and the scarcity of available new build properties in the area.”