local authority:   Canterbury City Council

Warwick Housing Co-operative is an estate of 40 properties on the edge of Canterbury in the St Martins Hill area. The properties are one bedroom flats, and two and three bedroom houses, so it is mainly a family estate.

The estate was built by CDS Co-operatives in 1993 and ownership was transferred to Warwick Housing Co-operative in 1994. The Co-operative became fully independent and signed a management agreement with CDS in 1995. It has a committee that meets regularly.

The Co-operative has had a community centre built on the estate and this provides a Co-op office and a main room that can be used for meetings, social events and which is available for hire. The building also has kitchen and toilet facilities. Also within the estate is a fenced in ‘ball park area’ for games.

All the homes have double-glazing and central heating. There are private front and back gardens and all properties have either driveways or allocated car-parking spaces.

The properties are a twenty minute walk from the town centre with all its amenities and there are some small local shops nearer to the estate.

Warwick Housing Co-operative has contractual tenancies and, after internal transfers, 50% of vacancies are given to Canterbury Council for nominations from their housing register, the Co-op keep a waiting list for the remaining 50%.

The service charge covers the communal TV aerial, and cleaning within the flats.