Villagers will be given priority on a new housing scheme which opened last week.

The ten new three and four bedroom houses, which are classified as affordable homes, have been built off Cambridge Road in Fowlmere.

An opening ceremony was held on Thursday, with district councilor Deborah Roberts joining Di Ware, chairman of the King Street Housing Society, which will run the development, to cut the ribbon.

King Street Housing developed the site alongside building firm Lovell. A local lettings agreement has been put in place that will see residents from Fowlmere given priority for homes at The Triangle, followed by people from surrounding villages.

“Rising house prices mean that many young people and families on modest incomes are effectively locked out of the rural housing market and being forced to leave the communities where they have grown up and have their roots,” said King Street housing chief executive Craig Glasper.

“This development will provide local people with high-quality homes they can afford and enable them to carry on living in the area. New affordable housing of this kind also helps ensure the continuing vitality of local communities in the countryside.”

Fowlmere parish councilors joined representatives of South Cambridgeshire District Council to have a look round the new homes at the opening ceremony. Tenants have already begun moving into the new rental homes and some of the shared ownership properties are still available.

Cllr Roberts said the homes had been seven or eight years in the making, and that the district council wanted to provide somewhere for people to live so that they could keep their routes in the village alongside their families and friends.

Tony Tann, regional director of Lovell, added: “It’s very rewarding to have helped deliver this much-needed development of new affordable housing at Fowlmere and great to see residents settling into their new homes.”

For more information on the scheme, visit www.kingstreeths.org.uk.