TWO affordable housing schemes are bidding to receive a total of £295,000 in funding from a local authority.

Schemes behind the creation of seven affordable homes in rural Askrigg and Arkengarthdale will put their bids to Richmond District Council for £150,000, each next week.

The money, if approved by members of the council's corporate board on April 9, will come from the Community Led Housing Fund, established in 2017.

Corporate director at Richmondshire District Council, Callum Mckeon, said: “We were the first district in North Yorkshire to deliver on this initiative when four homes in Husdwell were opened.

“Since then we have helped with cash for legal work, project set up and management costs but these new projects will deliver much needed affordable new homes in rural areas of our district.”

If bidding is successful, the funding will go towards the conversion of two market place properties in Askrigg into three affordable homes.

Whilst four additional affordable homes will be built on land next to a Methodist Chapel in Langthwaite, Arkengarthdale.

In February, MP for Richmondshire Rishi Sunak, slammed opposition against rural affordable housing.

Mr Sunak said whenever proposals for new and affordable homes to be built were placed, opposition groups from surrounding areas were quick to 'mobilise' against them.

Mr Sunak suggested that this opposition against rural affordable housing ran the risk of dissuading young homeowners living in rural North Yorkshire.