The houses are to be built on the corner of Clun Street and Ellesmere Road in BurngreaveLabour and Lib Dem Councillors united in their approval for plans to build 19 new social houses in Burngreave today.

The houses will have between two and five bedrooms, and will be among the first in the country to be built to level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, a government measure of energy efficiency. Tenants will be able to use free electricity during the day, provided by solar panels on the roof of each house.

Councillors put the plans on hold three weeks ago, to ask officers for clarification on a number of issues, including the availability of school places in the area. The officers full report on the development can be found here

It has not yet been decided whether the seven detached and 12 semi-detached homes on Ellesmere Road will be built by the Council or by a housing association. They would be among the first new council houses built in Sheffield for almost twenty years.

Labour councillor Gill Furniss said, "My only disappointment would be that it may not be council housing." She suggested to the Liberal Democrat councillors sitting opposite that they should "ask Nick if we can have the first council houses built in Sheffield for god knows how long".

Arthur Dunworth, Lib Dem Councillor for Stannington expressed his hope that the project will be developed by the Council rather than a housing association. He said, "I think this is really, really great news and I've been waiting nineteen bloody years for it."

The council will announce who will take the project forward on Tuesday 7th September.