THE first new social rented flats to come on the market in Wellington in a generation will shortly be available in the town centre.

Falcon Rural Housing has been converting the homes from the upper two floors of the former Kings Arms public house.

The properties will be available in the autumn, but local people interested in them are being urged to register immediately.

The flats will be advertised through Somerset Council’s online Homefinder service, which can take up to 42 days to process registrations.

Falcon housing officer Toni-Louise Farrer-Halls said because of the registration delay it was important for people to register now, so they were able to bid for the properties as soon as they became available.

Ms Farrer-Halls said Falcon wanted the homes to go to Wellington people and anticipated there would be a large demand for them.

She said once people had expressed their interest via Homefinder, Falcon would filter the applications to decide who should be accepted on the strength of their local conbections.

Ms Farrer-Halls said: “We provide local homes for local people and we are looking at local people from Wellington for them.

“But, if people who need the homes are not aware of Homefinder, then they need to be on there.

“People think if they are in private rented accommodation they cannot apply, but they can, if they are on Homefinder.”

The housing association bought the derelict building in 2021 after it had remained empty for six years and initially converted the ground floor into a community hub for the town council, which opened last year.

Now, it has almost finished the four ‘affordable’ flats upstairs, which are a mix of one and two-bedroom accommodation.

Ms Farrer-Halls said it had been ‘a big, big project for us, because the building was practically derelict inside’.