HOUSING association LiveWest is set to build more than 1,300 affordable homes in Somerset over five years.

It built 154 homes in the county over the past year and has almost 8,000 homes in Somerset and more than 40,000 homes across the South West.

Its 42-home development in the Cornhill area of Wellington features 26 homes for affordable rent and 16 for shared ownership.

LiveWest teamed up with Freemantle Developments and Classic Builders to develop a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom homes.

The development benefitted from grant funding from Homes England, the Government’s housing and regeneration agency, as well as the former Somerset West and Taunton Council.

A partnership between LiveWest and Lovell Homes saw 36 new homes built in Sparkford, including eight affordable rent, four shared ownership and the remaining homes are open market.

The affordable homes were all constructed with an energy reducing building fabric, air source heat pump and solar photovoltaics. All homes are also fitted with charging stations for electric vehicles.

Agnieszka Wojciechowska and her family moved into one of the homes having lived in the town for 12 years.

She said: "Moving in was made smooth and straightforward.

“In the summer when it’s really nice and hot outside, downstairs is really nice and cool, so it was great to come home because it is like a breath of fresh air.

“We’ve been really lucky getting this home.”

Elsewhere, 87 homes were built in Taunton, 13 in Langport and 10 in Glastonbury.

And there are 225 affordable homes set for completion in the current financial year.

In Taunton, 56 additional homes will be delivered, 26 in Weston-super-Mare and 25 in Congresbury.

Paul Crawford, chief executive for LiveWest, said: “The South West continues to experience a huge demand for affordable homes, which makes our commitment to increasing the number of low cost rented housing in Somerset ever more important.

“Despite the challenges of the last year, we have achieved a surplus which will be reinvested in new affordable homes and in improving the condition of our existing homes.

“We have built 1,153 new homes this year, of which 82 per cent are affordable.

"We have also invested more into our existing homes with a £89m investment which is £15m more than last year.

“These improvements include significant expenditure on building safety, energy efficiency and significant upgrades to homes."