WORK is now underway on five Dudley Council schemes which will see the first new council homes built in the borough for 20 years.

Contractors have now been appointed and work has begun on each of the sites in Norwood Road, Brierley Hill; Woodland Avenue, Quarry Bank; Blackthorn Road, Wordsley; Tenacre Lane, Upper Gornal; and Wood Road, Lower Gornal.

Lovells Partnerships Ltd has been appointed to develop the Brierley Hill and Quarry Bank sites; while Mansell Construction Services Ltd is building the Wordsley and Upper Gornal schemes; with Frank Haslam Milan developing the Lower Gornal site.

The housing schemes, funded by a £4.3 grant from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency, are due to be completed by the end of March 2012.

Councillor David Simms, Dudley’s cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning, said: “This is a major milestone in the project so far.

“This time next year we’ll have five schemes providing 80 much-needed affordable homes for the benefit of local people.”