Town needs more houses for workers, says firm

Approximately 900 new homes need to be built in Barrow-in-Furness every year to cope with the town's expanding shipyard, according to its operators.

BAE Systems is adding 5,000 workers to its workforce of 12,000, mainly due to winning a £3.95bn ($4.82bn) contract to build a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines.

The deal is part of the UK's so-called Aukus security pact with Australia and the US.

A local food bank has warned it has already seen the impact of an increased demand for housing in the town.

Recruitment has already begun for the project to build the submarines, known as SSN-AUKUS.

BAE says they will be "the largest, most powerful and advanced attack submarines the Royal Navy has ever operated".

The government is to provide £5m to fund a Barrow Delivery Board, announced in last year's Autumn Statement by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

He said the board would "ensure local people see lasting benefits from investment in the defence nuclear enterprise".

A recent report by Westmorland and Furness Council, external said house prices in Barrow were "comparatively low" but the town had seen "very strong house price growth in recent years".

The council report said there was a "significant undersupply of homes" because predictions for housing requirements by its previous authorities had "underestimated the opportunities for growth" because they were based on "past population trends".

The report also said preparations were under way for a new local housing plan "that will facilitate future housing delivery across the authority area".

The town has seen a rise in houses and some pubs being turned into Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs), rented out by parties who are not from a single household or family.

The authority is using £28m of government funding from the agency Homes England to build 1,022 homes as part of its Marina Village project, on former industrial land it owns next to Buccleuch Dock.

Janet Garner, future workforce director at BAE, said the firm's expansion presented a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform Barrow".

Plans were being devised with Westmorland and Furness Council and local businesses to "look at how we can accommodate that", she added.

She said the 900 homes per year that the firm predicted was needed to cope with the expansion was comparable with the number of homes built collectively over the last ten years in the Barrow area.

The University of Cumbria's new campus, next to the BAE site in Barrow, is intended to ensure more graduate jobs at the site go to young people from the town, instead of graduates from other parts of the country.

Connor, 20, from Barrow, is studying a degree apprenticeship in engineering, based at BAE.

"A lot of my friends are doing the same as me, they work here as well," he said.

"On the other hand, there were a lot that can't wait to go to university and move away."

The firm said around 90% of its new joiners are from the Barrow area.

Olivia, 17, from Barrow, is in the second year of an joinery apprenticeship at BAE.

She said she joined the workforce at BAE because "there's lots of job security and you know that you're going to have a job for a long time if you get in, and it's going to be a good job".

The people who run the town's food bank have already seen the effects of a lack of housing, as lack of accommodation has driven up house prices and rent.

Jayne Moorby, who works with Barrow food bank, said the price rises were "making it really difficult for local people on low incomes".

She said food bank users were "already seeing the impact of the cost of living crisis, let alone an increase in the cost of housing".

"We need to build a lot more houses quickly," she added.

Matt Burden, project manager at Barrow food bank, said rising rents had already had led more people to use the service, but was hopeful BAE's expansion could improve the quality of life for people in the town.

"Perhaps there is a problem with aspiration that goes along with a lack of self-esteem, and hopefully perhaps this development can do something about that," he said.

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