DUDLEY Council is planning a major new house building project to create 350 new homes across the borough.

The authority’s cabinet has approved an investment of £40m over the next five years to redevelop sites around the region.

Land earmarked for redevelopment includes the former borough archives site in Coseley, the Arcal Lodge care home in Sedgley, Russells Hall’s Middlepark Road, a site on Beech Road, Kingswinford and the Guest Hospital site in Dudley.

Councillor Gaye Partridge, Dudley cabinet member for housing, said: “Many of the schemes we are looking to develop are relatively small but together they will make a big difference in the number of homes we have available to rent.

“As we have done with previous developments, we will be writing to residents living near the sites we hope to develop immediately, to ensure they are fully informed about our proposals.”

Around £15.6m, including £6.2m borrowed from the Local Growth Fund, will be spent on house building over the next three years.

The council hopes to add a further £11.5 million into the new build budget in 2018/19.

UKIP councillor Bill Etheridge told the council’s cabinet he was encouraged to see the plans but asked for more details after describing the cost per home in the proposals as “rather a lot”.