Housing

Mixed communities as a phrase, as an outcome and as a specific government sponsored approach to regeneration has rather disappeared from polite policy circles. It seems to belong firmly to the period before the new dispensation. Although some of the new turns out to be quite old. Take right to buy for example.

As cuts start to bite and public services and regeneration funds are withdrawn, housing associations are picking up the extra demand. But can they, and should they, fill the gap in regeneration provision? Clare Goff and Austin Macauley investigate

When the Accord Group of housing associations wanted to ensure local supplies of the timber frames it uses to build new housing in Redditch, it decided to open its own factory. Based in Beechdale, the factory employs 30 staff and will supply timber frames for 250 homes in its first year of business.