A HUGE new town with more than 4,000 homes is being built in the UK.
The first glimpse of the new town has been unveiled – showing houses set over 900 acres of land.
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Thorpebury, in Leicestershire, will include shops, healthcare facilities and sports pitches.
Once it is fully developed, the town will also boast land for businesses and other essential services.
It is estimated Thorpebury will cost approximately £450 million to complete.
Building work on the town is expected to take more than a decade.
Known as Thorpebury-in-the-Limes, the housing development will provide a mixture of starter homes.
A quarter of the homes will be affordable housing across a mix of types.
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School parking
The plans, submitted to Charnwood Borough Council, include details of a two-storey school building on a 4.5-acre site.
The school will have parking spaces for 42 vehicles.
There will also be playing fields and sports pitches at the site, and a secondary school on land north of Hamilton and east of Thurmaston.
The planning documents submitted by Leicestershire Borough Council stated the demand for additional school places arises because of the development of the new homes.
Care facility
A specialist care facility for the elderly is also being proposed.
There will be extensive high-quality landscaping and 30-acres of green spaces.
This will include sports pitches, play areas, parkland and new walking and cycling routes.
A temporary community cabin was delivered to the site last month to assist anyone looking for more information on the new town.
The development of the new town comes as the UK Government unveiled a £100million plan to battle the housing crisis by training 40,000 builders by 2029.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, warned the housing crisis was being made worse by a lack of construction workers.
Support for first-time buyers
There are plenty of support schemes that first-time buyers can access to make it easier to get on the ladder.
If you live in England, the First Homes scheme allows you to buy a property with up to 50% discounted from its market price.
To use the scheme, you must be a first-time buyer and be aged 18 or older.
And you’ll need to earn less than £80,000 a year before tax or £90,000 if the property is in London.
Instead of buying a whole property, you instead buy a portion from as little 10% and pay rent to a landlord on the rest through shared ownership schemes.
Only buying a share of the home means the deposit and mortgage payments are much smaller.
You can then start to increase your stake in the property when you are able to afford it until you own it outright.
Availability of shared ownership homes vary depending on area and you may have to show you have a job or links in the location where you want to buy.
You can use the scheme in England if your household earns £80,000 a year or less when you’re buying outside of London, or £90,000 a year or less when you’re buying in London
Members of your family can help you by gifting a deposit but even if they are not in the position to do this, there are other options such as joint mortgages with relatives or 100% mortgages with parental security.
For example, Barclays’ Family Springboard Mortgage allows buyers to get a home without saving a deposit at all when a family member or friend puts up savings worth 10 per cent of the purchase price.
The money is returned to the helper after five years as long as the mortgage payments are kept up.
More lenders are offering innovative mortgages to help buyers get on the ladder.
For example, if you can pull together £5,000 for a deposit, you could qualify for Yorkshire Build Society’s specialised mortgage for first-time buyers.
Borrowers can get a mortgage on properties up to £500,00 with the deal.
Or if you rent a home and have a good track record of paying the bill each month, you could qualify for a specialised deal from Skipton Building Society – and you don’t need to save a deposit at all.
The Track Record 100% mortgage from the lender is available to renters buying their first property.
You can give your savings a boost through a special ISA designed to help people save for either a first home.
The account is tax-free and anyone aged between 18-39 can open one.
When saving up to £4,000 a year and the government will then add a 25% bonus on top.