Development
Building the business: more than bricks and mortar
Development
We operate a housing development programme throughout our region of Devon and Cornwall. This includes affordable homes for rent, rent to buy and shared ownership.
We seek to do our part to address housing need and affordability in the south west where house prices are often at levels of 10-14 times that of average salaries.
As well as helping to provide affordable housing for local people, our development work creates and supports jobs in the region.
We work in partnership with Homes England, the local authorities in which we work, and of course our own customers and colleagues in order to provide safe, secure and high quality housing.
Development strategy
New Programme
We are a Homes England funded partner.
Our new homes sites have strongest presence in Teignbridge, Torbay, Torridge, Plymouth and Cornwall. We target activity where it has a viable management 'reach', and where stakeholder support is likely.
We will continue to develop where we are recognised as ongoing partners.
Satisfaction with our new homes
New customers rate Westward homes as great quality
In recent years we have been building up to 100 homes per annum, adding to our housing stock of 7,600 properties throughout Devon and Cornwall.
To ensure that the new homes meet customers expectations, we ask households to complete a survey 12 months after moving in. The satisfaction form we use is also used by a number of other housing associations so we can compare the results.
Westward’s satisfaction rate is 91% for the internal design of our properties and 94% for feeling safe in their homes; the majority of customers who returned surveys in 2022/23 were satisfied with the quality of their home.
Residents are also asked to say what is more important to them in terms of their new homes. The results show that the satisfaction with the homes we provide is high. We also know through an analysis of our costs that these are lower than most other housing associations, so we are achieving value for money. We keep these standards under close review.
Where there are direct questions in the survey, the results are given in the table:
| Ranking | Issue | Westward % |
| 1 | Feeling safe | 94% |
| 2 | Internal size of home | 91% |
| 3 | Layout of home | 94% |
| 4 | Internal facilities (heating etc) | 79% |
| 5 | Appearance of scheme / home | 94% |
| 6 | Local area | 94% |
| 7 | Gardens | 56% |
| 8 | Noise problems from inside the home | 9% |
| 9 | Layout of estate | 94% |
| 10 | Amount of storage | 67% |
| 11 | Repair service for defects (first 6 months) | 56% |
| Overall satisfaction rating | 88% |
New development sites
We have a proven track record of successful development and land acquisition throughout Devon and Cornwall. Westward is committed to seeking new development opportunities in line with our business plan to deliver growth.
A map showing our latest development sites can be viewed here.
We have a contract with Homes England to increase the supply of affordable homes in England through the Affordable Homes Programme.
|
Scheme name |
Total spend |
Total grant |
Financial year completed |
|
Newton Road |
4,402,726 |
1,266,108 |
2022 |
|
Ham Green Bungalows |
1,109,867 |
690,000 |
2022 |
|
Launceston Road |
8,726,838 |
2,979,000 |
2023 |
|
Moses Close |
3,360,631 |
2,002,000 |
2025 |
|
St Peters Close |
1,202,435 |
591,000 |
2025 |
Colebrook – 43 affordable homes in Plympton (20 social rent, 9 rent to buy and 14 Shared Ownership) – first handovers due February 2026
Winsford Park, Bideford – working with Bloor to deliver affordable homes on their mixed tenure site on Abbotsham Road. Mix of social rented and Shared Ownership. First handovers December 2025.
Molebrook, South Molton – working with Wain Homes providing a mix of social rented and Shared Ownership. Phased handovers from December 2024 programmed through to 2028.
Upton Green, Bude – working with Legacy to deliver social rented and shared ownership, including two wheelchair accessible bungalows. First handovers Autumn 2025.
Castle Green, Winkleigh – working with Lovell to deliver social rented and shared ownership homes. First handovers due spring 2025
