A SENIOR Winchester city councillor has hailed the council’s new build programme as “wonderful.”

The Cabinet heard nearly 70 council homes are in various stages of progress.

Five dwellings in Baxter Close, Itchen Abbas, are due to be officially opened later this month.

Planning permission was recently granted for 27 units at Victoria House, Hyde.

An application for 12 homes in Westman Road, Weeke, was recently submitted with plans being prepared for 21 homes on the site of the New Queens Head in Stanmore.

Towards the end of July the builders will hand over three new three-bedroom houses in Bourne Close, Otterbourne, said Cllr Ian Tait, portfolio holder for housing services.

Cllr Tait said: “These figures are wonderful, a tremendous success for the new homes team.”

The council aims to build 300 homes in a ten-year period. The new homes are the first council houses to be built in Winchester for more than 20 years.