Affordable homes are a real cracker

Families moving into 38 new affordable homes in Erewash boast cracking addresses – after their freshly-built streets were named in honour of a local code-breaking king who worked with Bletchley Park genius Alan Turing.

The development in Sandiacre pays tribute to the late Rolf Noskwith, whose house was on the site. One of the two roads off Longmoor Lane is called Bletchley Gardens Way. The other is named Enigma Close.

It was thanks to a captured World War Two enigma machine that Turing and fellow maths wizard Mr. Noskwith were able to decipher Nazi communications at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire.

The work of the top-secret “Station X” team – including Turing’s invention of what is regarded as the first general purpose computer – is estimated to have accelerated Hitler’s defeat by as much as three years.

After the war Mr Noskwith worked at Charnos – an Ilkeston hosiery firm his father had founded in 1935. Rolf became chairman in 1952. He died in 2017 aged 97. The site of his former home is now a mix of two, three and four-bed houses and bungalows provided by Futures Housing. Each has an electric car charging point, solar panels and thicker insulation to help make the homes more comfortable and affordable to heat. 

Twenty-two of the properties are for social rent and are earmarked for households on Erewash Borough Council’s housing register – many of whom have been living in unsuitable conditions or who face homelessness. 

Sixteen homes are for shared ownership, which will help families get a foot on the housing ladder. 

Councillor Curtis Howard, Lead Member for Town Centres, Regeneration and Planning, said: “We are excited to see this new development being completed. Our thanks go to all those involved – including Futures Housing and Cameron Homes. At the same time as families move into these precious affordable homes it is fantastic to honour our local Bletchley Park hero.”

Neil Laws, Head of Programme Delivery at Futures, said: “We’re committed to building and acquiring as many new homes as we can at Futures as we know the shortage of affordable, high-quality homes is at the heart of the housing crisis. So this has been a fantastic scheme to work on with Cameron Homes and Erewash Borough Council, which has now moved families waiting on the housing register into high quality, modern, affordable homes.”

Futures Housing has been a key partner in developing affordable housing in Erewash – with new homes in Ilkeston at Bath Street, Little Hallam Lane and Rutland Street. The housing association will also soon be completing homes at Bennett Street in Long Eaton.