A number of new affordable homes in the Keswick area will be specifically made available for local occupancy.
This means that people from the local community or those moving into the area for work will live in the homes.
Housing association Home Group, which is delivering the properties, has aligned itself to the Lake District National Park Authority’s local occupancy policy in recent years.
One of those upcoming schemes will be on the old garden centre site between Bassenthwaite and Keswick.
A six-home scheme, it will benefit from a number of innovative design features and is intended to be energy efficient, helping keep power bills low for the new owners.
The LDNPA’s local occupancy policy is a list of criteria introduced alongside the 2018 local plan.
It is in response to vast numbers of second home ownership across the Lake District, which is pricing out local people.
In total, Home Group’s decision to prioritise local people will affect 94 homes across Cumbria – 72 in Keswick and 22 in Ambleside.
Elsa Brailey, head of development and delivery at Home Group, said: “Providing the right homes in the right places, for the right people is central to our ethos, no more so than here in Cumbria.
“We want to keep as many local people in local homes as possible, as well as adding new faces who help maintain and grow our vibrant communities.
“Over the past couple of years particularly we have seen that happen, despite the challenges people in the county face.
“Cumbria is an amazing place to live, and above all else, we want to ensure that the people who already call it home have the opportunity to find high quality homes available to them, which meet their needs and at prices which are attainable.”
