Elgar Housing Association is hoping to repeat the success of a shared ownership scheme in Leigh Sinton with a new project in the village.

Contractors are putting the finishing touches to the development on the former Leigh Sinton Motors site. When complete, the association will sell three properties on a half equity basis.

The scheme offers villagers who may have been priced out of the local housing market in the past, the chance to get a foothold on the housing ladder by buying a 50 per cent share in a property for £43,000 and then increasing this to 80 per cent at a later date.

Elgar, part of the Festival Housing Group, worked closely with Leigh and Bransford Parish Council and Malvern Hills District Council on a similar project in Leigh two years ago.

The Benfields project transformed redundant old people's sheltered housing into a development which included shared housing and bungalows.

Under the shared ownership scheme they were only let or sold to people in the village, or with connections to the village.

A housing needs survey had earlier showed young people in Leigh and Bransford needed to move out of the village to purchase houses.

"It was very successful and Elgar Housing consulted the whole way through and attempted to meet with requirements," said parish clerk Maureen Croall.

She said that the council looked forward to working in partnership with Elgar again with regard to the new two-bedroom terraced properties.

Festival's commercial director Richard Grounds said the new development offered an ideal opportunity for young residents to buy a good quality new home at an affordable price.