Tenants in Foxton are in line to receive new homes before Christmas as part of a housing project in South Cambridgeshire.

South Cambs district council’s business plan includes five housing projects incorporating 54 new council properties, with nine of the new affordable homes ready for tenants to move in by Christmas.

The nine properties at Challis Close in Foxton will see tenants and shared-ownership buyers starting to arrive this month, and include four one-bed maisonettes, two two-bed semi-detached houses, two three-bed semi-detached houses, and a two-bed terraced house.

Clustered around a village green with a play area, the homes each come with a garden and a garden shed, as well as private off-street parking spaces.

The homes are being allocated to those with a proven local connection to Foxton or South Cambridgeshire, such as working in the village for 16 hours per week for the last 12 months, living in the village for five years out of the last eight or with family who have lived in the village for five-plus years.

The district council’s lead cabinet member for housing, Cllr Hazel Smith said: “Housing, both to buy and to rent privately, is just so expensive in South Cambs, even for a couple both earning a decent wage.

“The shared ownership and affordable rented properties we are building are really needed to enable more people to have the home they’ve been waiting for.

“We already have around 5,500 homes on our books and we are committed to increasing the number of energy efficient council homes built every year for our local residents.”