WORK on three affordable homes in Lyme Regis will start within the next fortnight, developers have announced.

Stirling Wilson, director and general manager for Mainsail Estates, said this week that builders working on the Admiral's Heights development in Henry's Way, were keen to start work on the three affordable homes.

He said: "We're hoping to commence work in the next two weeks. The builders on the site are itching to get going."

Mr Wilson said Mainsail had decided to build the homes themselves, rather than contract out the work to a housing association like Magna.

He said the houses would be offered as low-cost homes to buyers in Lyme Regis first, and then opened up to the whole of west Dorset.

He said the homes, all three bedroom houses with parking, would be for sale as shared equity.

He added that 35 per cent of the cost would be 'held back' by the district council in perpetuity, to ensure that the houses were never sold at market value and could remain affordable.

Mr Wilson said Mainsail had agreed to build the affordable homes within the Admiral's Heights development as part of the planning approval.

Twenty-three more homes are being built on the site, two of which are complete and have been sold.

The development hit the headlines this summer when Lyme Regis Town Council announced it would not allow Admiral's Heights to be the official postal address for the new development and wanted it to remain part of the existing Henry's Way.

Mr Wilson said this week that the company had marketed the development as Admiral's Heights and would continue to do so until the last house was sold.

He said: "We accept from a postal position, we cannot argue with Lyme Regis Town Council.

"We will be calling it Admiral's Heights until the last house is sold.

"There are two pillars with the name Admiral's Heights on them - it's up to residents whether they want to pull them down."