CONSTRUCTION has started on six new homes for social rent in Leominster.

Affordable housing provider, Stonewater, is working with Herefordshire Council, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and local contractor J Harper & Sons to deliver a £600,000 new development on Hopyard Close.

The homes will provide a mix of flats and semi-detached houses for local people who are struggling to find affordable housing in the area with the development being built on the site of a former car park.

It will provide four two-bedroom semi-detached houses and two one-bedroom self-contained flats, each with a garden and allocated parking space.

Stonewater is financing the development with funding support from the Homes and Communities Agency.

Stonewater is currently working with Herefordshire Council on another affordable housing scheme in Bodenham which will create two bungalows for shared ownership, one of these is being adapted for disabled living.

The project is due for completion in March 2016.