THE next generation of Coleford residents got a bird's eye view of their new home, this week, rising from the street where their mother had grown up with their grandparents.

Little Leo, 3, and his sister Angel May, 7, joined mum Claire Powell and big sister Jessica, 19, in checking out the diggers and the "Bob the builders" hard at work on their new home in Turfthorn Avenue in Coleford.

It's all the more exciting as the family have been involved in helping design their new homes from day one, working with community home provider Two Rivers.

The Powell's new home is just one of the 43 brand new affordable, energy efficient family homes being delivered by the not-for-profit housing assoc­iation for local families. The new development will include a mix of four, three and two bedroomed homes.

Housebuilder and regeneration specialists Lovell have been taken on by Two Rivers to deliver the £4.3m job, sweeping away 34 old worn out and energy-hungry houses, to make way for the new generation development.

Claire, who spent her childhood with her parents in Tufthorn Avenue, said it was brilliant that her children could carry on the Tufthorn tradition.

"My parents lived in Tufthorn, I was a child here and I have brought my children up here too. It's a great community. That's why it was so wonderful when Two Rivers asked us to help them design the next generation of homes. The Two Rivers team have really put us centre stage right from day one," she said.

Two Rivers Head of Development Vicki Wright said the organisation was all about helping local people stay in the communities they love.

"It's really hard for many local people in rural communities across Gloucestershire and Herefordshire to afford to stay in the villages and small market towns where they were brought up. Two Rivers is here to help those communities remain viable by working with them to develop the affordable homes that meet their needs.

"Two Rivers took over the old council houses in Tufthorn Avenue in 2003. We did our best to keep them going but they really weren't fit for the twenty-first century, so we are sweeping them away to create a new generation of comfortable energy efficient homes. It's all part of our commitment to invest £38m in over 300 news homes over the next few years.

"We have been moving everyone out of our Tufthorn community to other Two Rivers properties nearby while we knock down the old and bring in the new. Some 16 families are keen to come back, while the rest are settled and happy in other Two Rivers homes close by. That means we will have space for 27 more families to join the new generation community. It's a net gain all round," she said.