LONG-awaited affordable homes have been built in Bromham providing people on low incomes the chance to stay in the village.

The official opening of an eight house development in Breach Close took place on Monday.

The homes were built by the Wiltshire Rural Housing Association and have been partly funded with a grant from Kennet District Council.

It is the first affordable housing scheme to be built in the village in more than ten years.

The six semi-detached houses and two bungalows are rented and the tenants all have a connection with Bromham. Prospective tenants had to bid through the homes@kennet housing register.

Samantha Jenkinson, 19, her partner Shane Goodship, 18, and their one-year-old daughter Jade are

living in one of the two bedroom houses. The couple, who are both from Bromham, had previously been living with Miss Jenkinson's parents in Mintys Top, Bromham.

Miss Jenkinson said: "It was overcrowded living in my parents' house. We had been on the waiting list for one-and-a-half years and we wanted to stay in Bromham because our family and friends are here."

Annalisa Alexander, 27, her partner Timothy Shaw, 38, and their one-year-old son Isaac are also living in a two bedroom house.

The couple were able to bid for the property because Mr Shaw works as a cabinet maker at Mark Wilkinson Furniture in Bromham. Miss Alexander said: "We were lucky to get a house because we only got it because someone dropped out."

The couple had previously been living in Waiblingen Way, Devizes, in a rented flat and say their new house has plenty of space and only costs £7 extra in rent each week.

They are also looking forward to lower fuel bills because the homes have been built to exacting ecological standards and incorporate energy and water saving features such as solar panels.

Coun Janet Giles, Kennet District Council's housing champion, said: "This development is here to meet the needs of local people who might not otherwise have the opportunity to remain within their local community."

The special guest at the opening of the development was professor Steve Wilcox from the centre for housing policy at the University of York. Prof Wilcox said he was impressed by the design of the properties, which enabled tenants to build into the loft to create extra space.

Prof Wilcox was drafted in to replace Keith Hill, the Minister of State in the office of the Deputy Prime Minister, who was unable to be at Bromham because he was called before a select committee at the Houses of Parliament.