THE district's 200th council house built in recent years has been handed over to its new tenant.

Victoria Woolley is moving into one of 20 new homes for rent being built at Cliffe Lane West in Baildon, as part of a wider £28m project creating new affordable homes on brownfield sites across the district.

Bradford Council’s housing boss, Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, handed her the keys at a special ceremony this week.

Cllr Ross-Shaw, executive member for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “Ensuring people have a decent, good quality home is a key priority for the Council.

“We are pleased to be able to deliver these new affordable homes for the people of Bradford. To hand over the 200th new home is a great moment to celebrate.”

Bradford Council, like many other authorities, had stopped building council houses and in 2004 handed over all its existing homes to the Bradford Community Housing Trust, later rebranded as Incommunities.

But in 2010, the Council started building new homes itself once again.

The first phase saw 45 homes built, followed by a second phase of a further 50 homes.

In the current phase, taking place from 2015 to 2018, a total of 139 homes are being built across the district in a £28m project part-funded by a £3.5m grant from the Homes and Communities Agency.

The rest of the cost will be recouped by the Council in future years through the rental income it makes.

The new homes, built by Keepmoat, are owned by the Council but are being managed by Incommunities under a five-year contract that began in 2016.

At Cliffe Lane West, the Council is building 20 homes to rent to social housing tenants. Nine of these have been handed over this week and the remaining 11 are due to be handed over next week.

The Council has also built homes for sale at the same site and these are currently being marketed.

Work has also started on a second phase of construction at the site, which will see a further 35 homes built by March 2018.