WORK is set to begin on a £4.5million affordable housing scheme in Kendal’s Kirkland area.

The development - on the site of the former Stokers Garage - will include 36 one and two bedroom apartments, 12 of which will be specifically designed for people with physical disabilities. A retail unit will also be included on the ground floor.

All 36 homes will be managed by Impact Housing Association in association with Leonard Cheshire Disability and will be let at affordable rents to people on the council housing waiting list.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who attended a sod cutting ceremony, said: “It will be nice to get this site developed at long last and it will be great to have this kind of housing in Kendal.”

Mike Muir, of Impact Housing said: “This is a key site for us, providing much needed accommodation at affordable rents in the middle of Kendal. "This is likely to be one of the last major schemes funded in this way for the foreseeable future.”

Work is expected to be completed in March 2012.

The project is a partnership between Impact Housing Association, Leonard Cheshire Disability with a £1.9 million grant from The Homes and Communities Agency and £176,800 from South Lakeland District Council.

l Impact Housing has just completed work on its first project outside of Cumbria. Ten new homes have been built on Windermere Road, in Carnforth.