Sutton families on low incomes will soon be able to rent low-cost homes in the village thanks to a deal struck between locals and developers.

Housing company Barratt is in the process of building more than 60 new homes on one of the village's former mill sites.

Under rules drawn up by the Government, housing developments over a certain size have to include a portion of "affordable homes" which are lower in price.

However, councillors in Craven feared that even those homes on the prestigious development would be beyond the pocket of Sutton families on low incomes and they would be forced to leave the village and live elsewhere.

Now they have been able to agree a massive lump sum of cash that will be used by the council to buy terraced properties in Sutton and offer them at affordable rents.

"We had a meeting with Barratts where there was some very hard bidding, but we did come to an agreement," said Coun Ken Hart.

And he told the Herald: "In the end we got almost double what they were originally going to give us.

"This will all have to be considered by the planning committee because it will mean a slight change in the layout of the development they are building."

Coun Hart said he would not disclose the amount of money involved, but it was enough for the council to buy six family-sized terraced properties.

"If the affordable homes had been built in the Barratt development it would have set them apart from all then others, and that's not what we wanted," he said.

"The good news is that in the future there's going to be six families who won't have to move out of Sutton because they can't afford to live here."

Sian Watson, Craven District Council's planning and development manager, said the matter would hopefully be discussed at a planning committee meeting at the end of May.

"We were instructed by the committee when it was considering the reserved matters on the Barratt development to negotiate with the company to look for a contribution in lieu of a provision of affordable houses on that site," she said.

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