THE Archbishop of York planted the seed in our minds. Now we’re doing what he suggested.

Our diocese is responding to a challenge thrown down by the archbishop to put our money where our mouth is over much-needed low-cost housing in Portsmouth.

The Most Rev Dr David Hope suggested that dioceses should sell land more cheaply to housing associations that were prepared to build affordable family homes. He was speaking two years ago in the inaugural Bill Sargent Memorial Lecture during a visit to the city.

Now our diocese has linked up with the Portsmouth Housing Association (PHA) – which former Portsmouth priest Bill Sargent helped to launch – to help provide 30 low-cost homes in Fratton.

Our diocese hopes to sell just under an acre of land behind St Mary’s Vicarage to PHA at less than the full market value. PHA would like to build a mixture of two, three and four-bedroomed flats and houses there.

The homes would be offered to some of the 5,000 people currently on the council’s housing list. Some will be helped to part-own their own homes for the first time.

Dr Hope said: “This sounds like a great project and has my full backing. I’m delighted that a suggestion I made two years ago has been picked up by the diocese and become a reality.”

City council planners are now considering building plans drawn up by architect Roger Boyce, who won an English Heritage award recently for his design of an extension at St Peter’s Church, Hayling Island. The council’s architecture panel thought they were the best of their type they had seen.

PHA’s planning application also includes suggestions that residents could share cars with each other, in line with the council’s policy on the environment. Each of the significant trees on the site and much of the green space will also be preserved.

Our diocese’s head of property, Andrew Robinson, whose father worked alongside Bill Sargent in the parish of St Mark’s, North End, said: “As one of the founders of PHA, Bill saw the desperate need for cheap homes for the poorest families in the city. He saw that poverty was blighting their lives and was determined to restore their God-given dignity by providing them with proper homes. That’s still the case today – 25 years later.

“The archbishop’s suggestion in 2001 came as quite a challenge, as the Charity Commission rules state that we should aim to get the maximum return on any assets we hold. But we can satisfy them that this is consistent with what the Church stands for.

“We're proud of our partnership with PHA, and our joint commitment to see Bill Sargent's vision become a reality.”

The land is “glebe” land, which means it should help to provide income for Church of England clergy. However, because it has been left unused for more than 20 years, it has been providing no income to our diocese for this purpose.

Our diocese could have sold the land to a private developer, but that may have resulted in a larger number of more expensive homes being crammed onto the site.

The money from the sale will be used to help pay for the network of clergy around our diocese, and to further ministry at the nearby St Mary’s Church, Fratton.

Canon Bob White, the vicar of St Mary's, said: “People might be upset about losing a green area in the centre of Portsmouth. But the field is permanently locked and is the cause of more problems than advantages. Local residents have complained when it is used by groups because of noise and disturbance.

“We’re very excited about these proposals, which show the Church being prepared to make sacrifices to help the poorest in our city.”