TWO housing associations could team up in an effort to tackle a shortage of affordable housing across mid and north Essex.

Greenfields Community Housing, which is based in Braintree, has revealed it has begun talks with Colne Housing over a new partnership which could see £500million pumped into building thousands of affordable homes in the next five years.

The new-builds would be allocated to people on the housing register in north Essex and Suffolk, and some will be made available to buy through a shared ownership scheme.

Last month, Greenfields announced its own plan to build 1,800 affordable homes by 2025 and spend £73million renovating some of its existing 8,500 properties in Essex and Suffolk.

Speaking about the proposed partnership, Greenfields chief executive Emma Palmer said: “There is an increasing expectation that housing associations need to deliver value for money and the best services.

“I’m really pleased that Greenfields and Colne are exploring ways to do just that.

“We share similar values – with customers at the heart of all we do – and our strengths would complement each other.”

Both Greenfields and Colne Housing have written to residents to inform them of the proposals but insist existing homes and services would be unaffected by the partnership. They insist the move is not a merger.

Board members for both groups are now said to be working on formal proposals which will be unveiled later this year.

Colne Housing, which manages properties in Braintree, Maldon, Uttlesford, Colchester and Tendring, is said to have made the initial approach over the deal.

Colne boss Sara Thakkar said: “We are leading this exciting opportunity in direct response to the housing shortage as part of Colne’s ‘bigger, better, bolder’ strategy which was agreed in 2016.

“Working with Greenfields would allow us to pool our strengths so we can do more for people in desperate need of housing. We will be involving our residents and employees and hope to provide an update later this year.”

Greenfields says there are 22,000 people on the housing register in Essex with 2,750 in the Braintree district and 4,392 in Colchester.