Work will begin on the first council houses to be built for 30 years in Epping Forest next month.

Phase one of Epping Forest District Council’s home building project will begin at the end of October as 23 homes are erected across the borough.

Broadway Construction Ltd was awarded the contract and will begin on sites in Roundhills and Harveyfields in Waltham Abbey.

The work is expected to be completed by October 2015.

It has now been confirmed that £500,000 will be granted to the council for phase two of the plan.

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has agreed to subsidise the development of 40 one and two-bed properties at Burton Road, Loughton.

A planning application for the work will be considered soon.

In August, the council house building cabinet committee agreed an approach to the future naming of streets and blocks of flats.

For each development that requires a new street or block name, the relevant town or parish council will be invited to submit a list of five in preference order.

Ward members will also be consulted.

The cabinet will then choose a name from the given options.

After 29 years of council service the first block of flats in Harveyfields will be named after the council’s former chief housing officer and district health and housing officer who retired in 2007. The block of nine flats will be known as ‘John Scott Court’.