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Former psychiatric hospital to be site of 891 new homes

ITS approach to care was then revolutionary, and an entire village complex was supported by a working farm, church, shop and bakery before the rural idyll for vulnerable people was left to became a crumbling folly.

Now the former Bangour Village psychiatric hospital site in West Lothian –the size of 100 football pitches and including 15 listed buildings – is set to be taken over by a housing developer after lying empty for 14 years.

NHS Lothian, has a planning application going through the system for 891 homes, 800 new build and 91 conversions, and a primary school.

It is the second attempt to lay foundations for new homes there after an earlier effort fell victim to the economic downturn.

Allanwater Homes, based in Bridge of Allan, would not comment on its plans for the site but confirmed it has lodged a bid with owner NHS Lothian and that dialogue was ongoing.

It comes after renewed efforts were made to sell the site last year.

NHS Lothian, advised by the Scottish Futures Trust, appointed property advisers CBRe and Justin Lamb Associates to revive interest ahead of a planning decision through West Lothian Council.

Justin Lamb said Bangour is “probably the best opportunity in Scotland to deliver a new village in a mature landscape.”

Source: Herald Scotland

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Scotland ‘building more affordable homes than England’

Scotland is building more affordable homes per head of population than England despite predictions that Holyrood ministers will miss their own ambitious target for new housing.

The Scottish Government’s supply of affordable housing per capita was found to be 33 per cent higher than the UK government’s supply in England over a 10 year period from 2007.

In answer to a parliamentary question from Edinburgh North and Leith MSP Ben Macpherson, housing minister Kevin Stewart revealed that 70,861 affordable homes had been built from April 2007 to September 2017.

In 2016, Scottish ministers pledged £3 billion to build 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of which are destined for the social rented sector.

But the number of affordable homes completed per quarter since the middle of 2016 has averaged at just 1,808, well below the 2,673 needed to reach the 50,000 target by 2021.

The gap in completions for social rent is even wider, with an increase in the completion rate of 159 per cent needed to meet the target.

But Mr Macpherson said the per capita figure demonstrated Scotland’s “strong position” when it came to building new homes.

“This demonstrates the stark difference between the SNP and the Tories, who have let housebuilding drop to its lowest level in England since 1923, whilst cutting winter fuel payments for the elderly and lumping the Bedroom Tax on the vulnerable,” he said.

“Since coming to office, the SNP has built more than 70,000 affordable homes and will continue to increase affordable housing with our ambitious target to deliver 50,000 homes during the lifetime of this Parliament, backed by £3 billion of investment.

“Making sure everyone has a safe, warm and affordable home is central to the SNP Government’s drive for a fairer and more prosperous Scotland.”

Source: Scotsman

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Developers believe 19 parking spaces will be enough for 71 new flats in Tonbridge town centre

Plans to build 71 new flats with just 19 parking spaces in the centre of Tonbridge have been unveiled.

F Estates, which specialises in affordable rented property development, wants to extend the existing block at The Bank House on Medway Wharf Road.

But some residents have come out against the plans saying the “overcrowding” would “ruin” the riverside area with bedsits.

The five-storey building would incorporate 71 rented studio flats which, when added to the existing 64, would mean a total of 135 on site. The parking provision would increase from 52 to 71 spaces.

A similar scheme for 72 flats on the plot was thrown out by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council in September on the grounds of overdevelopment.

But in a statement to the council, planning consultants Barton Willmore claimed previous concerns had been addressed.

It said: “The proposed development seeks to provide a high-quality living environment, extending the successful conversion of the existing Bank House building undertaken by the applicant.

“The proposals would provide much needed new homes – of a particular type and nature identified as being locally deficient – assisting with the council’s undersupply of five-year housing land supply.”

An artist’s impression of the rear of the site

The statement adds 40 per cent of the flats would be affordable homes let out at 80 per cent of market rate.

Objections

Despite the assurances, the plans are courting controversy locally with residents citing over-development, a lack of parking spaces and fears the building would block out neighbouring properties’ sunlight.

One objector, whose name has been redacted from planning documents but lives in nearby Cannons Wharf Road, said: “I am shocked and disappointed that the same company that wishes to build a 14-storey building down our road now wishes to double the size of an existing building and again not provide adequate parking. The additional traffic will burden a local infrastructure already under strain.

“It is unrealistic to assume that in this age of mass car ownership that the people who move into the proposed extension will either want or be able to rely on local bus services, so the question remain, where will these people park?”

Another, a serving police officer, feared the development could “ruin” life for existing residents, adding: “I object to this quite simply due to overcrowding. I work as a police officer in the Met and often see how disruptive a block of flats of this scale in an already busy area can be, often ruining many residents’ lives to the point they will move.”

Source: Kent Live

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600 homes plan for Shrewsbury deferred a second time over access concerns

A decision on plans to build 600 homes in Shrewsbury has been put off for a second time over issues with access.

Members of Shropshire Council’s central planning committee deferred the plans from Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon Homes to build the development at Weir Hill, at a meeting yesterday.

Objectors to the proposed housing development are concerned over access for construction traffic off Preston Street and are demanding that a new access road be built before work begins.

The developers had suggested that a new access off London Road would be constructed once 365 homes were built. The figure was then reduced to 250, and now 225.

Mike Carter from Shrewsbury Civic Society said: “The developers have done little or nothing to meet the concerns of the public or this committee.

“A single access route, even for 225 homes is unacceptable. Most estates have one built first. This development needs better access and better connectivity.”

Members also raised concerns about a lack of infrastructure and links to the town.

Jason Tait, agent for the application, said construction traffic would not be allowed to use London Road in peak times to alleviate congestion.

He added: “Its unreasonable to say the site would be unsustainable especially when it is earmarked for development in Shropshire Council’s own plan.

“It will bring many benefits to the area including a multi-million pound contribution to schools.”

Councillor Kevin Pardy suggested deferring the application for a second time, despite the recommendation from planning officers to grant permission.

“The public are not saying don’t build on this site – what they are saying to us is please help us get this right,” he said.

“It would be so much easier for the developer to go away and look at this again because I don’t think they have looked at it properly.

“They should go away and come back with plans that we can accept. I think we have been completely ignored.”

The developers will be asked to clarify the highways data provided as part of the proposal and the application will return to the planning committee for a decision at a later date.

Source: Shropshire Star

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Brighton & Hove’s Biggest New Council Housing Development In Years Completed

The first tenants will soon be moving into brand new homes in Whitehawk, following completion of the biggest new council housing development in the city in recent years.

Fifty-seven new homes have been built at Kite Place consisting of 10 one-bedroom, 33 two-bedroom and 14 three–bedroom flats.

Each of the properties has a balcony or patio, some with sea views, and they are designed to be energy efficient, with communal boilers providing hot water and heating.

Six of the homes are designed for wheelchair users and their families, with a number of mobility-rated units available for people needing accessible shower rooms. All the rest are built to the latest ‘accessible and adaptable’ standards, with lifts to all floors.

Kite Place is the largest development in the council’s New Homes for Neighbourhoods building programme, which aims to build at least 500 new homes on council land to provide much needed affordable rented housing. Building began in February 2016.

It’s situated off Whitehawk Road, on the site of the former Whitehawk Library which moved to new premises. There are good bus services on the doorstep, plus cycle storage, and a car club vehicle will also be based at the site. The first tenants in each of the flats will receive free car club membership for two years.

The first Kite Place tenants are due to move in over the next few weeks. The homes were let through Homemove, the council’s choice based lettings system.

Another 29 new council flats are nearing completion in Whitehawk at Hobby Place, next to Whitehawk Community Hub. The one, two, and three bedroom homes are due to be finished next month.

Kite Place and Hobby Place will bring the total number of new council homes completed under the New Homes for Neighbourhoods (NHFN) programme since 2015 to 136, with many more in the pipeline.

This is a step in the right direction but much more new and affordable housing is needed if the city is to meet the needs of it’s growing community, and if it is to offset the incessant and incremental price increases that are being stoked by ever increasing demand for housing.

Within the next few months, planning applications are expected to be accepted for the first three sites in the city’s ground- breaking plan to deliver a thousand truly affordable homes across the city, alongside the 500 council homes.

Available for rent or shared ownership, with the homes to rent affordable for those on the National Living Wage, these will meet some of the demand for housing amongst workers in our public sector and key industries currently priced out of living in Brighton and Hove.

Toads Hole Valley north of Hove is the last major site for housing in the city, bounded as we are by the National Park. It offers the potential for over 700 new homes as part of our City Plan. As many of these must be as truly affordable as possible.

Long-standing national policy requires up to 40% of homes to be affordable in new developments. However it uses the 80% of market rates definition of “affordable” which, if it ever was affordable, isn’t now, and especially in high housing cost areas like Brighton & Hove.

Developers push back on providing affordable housing even at this rate, but in truth few in need of housing in Brighton & Hove can afford a home at 80% of market rates.

www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/nhfn

Westridge Construction won a Considerate Constructors award for community involvement at this site and the artwork by local children and young people won runner-up prize in a hoardings competition run by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.

Source: B Journal

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59 homes could be built across a Notts town

Up to 59 homes could be built on three vacant sites across a Nottinghamshire town.

If plans are given the go-ahead by Mansfield District Council’s planning committee, homes could be built on Westfield Lane, Colston Road and Sherwood Close.

Three separate planning applications were submitted to the council this month for a mix of houses, apartments and bungalows.

All sites are within a five-mile radius of each other.

Plans for the Westfield Lane site were submitted by Munkbridge Homes Ltd. The company wants to build 14 bungalows on the former care home site, which was demolished some months ago.

The planning application submitted by the developer states: “This development should have no detrimental impact on the existing neighbouring properties.

“More than adequate parking is provided within the site and it is hoped that this is satisfactory in terms of layout, scale and appearance and a satisfactory residential environment.”

The application for the site includes plans for 28 car parking spaces.

At the Colston Road site, which is described as a brownfield site, developer Urban Plus Ltd has applied for permission to build six one-bed and six two-bed apartments.

The planning application submitted to the council states: “The area currently suffers from new quality investment, this is evident in the existing housing stock in the locale.

“The development will provide area regeneration, employment from construction work during the development.

“The proposal will result in the delivery of high quality residential development in a sustainable brown field location.”

Gleeson Homes wants to build 33 two and three bedroom homes on land off Sherwood Close.

If it’s given the go-ahead, 11 of the homes would have two bedrooms, and the remaining 22 would have three bedrooms.

The site was used as allotment gardens up until 2016, and has now been stood empty for some months.

The developer said this area has become a “fly-tipping” hot spot, and believed the homes would get rid of this issue.

Forty car park spaces are also planned as part of this application.

Source: Nottingham Post

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Sunderland social club could be demolished to make way for housing

A Sunderland social club could soon be a thing of the past if plans to demolish it and build new housing get the green light.

Proposals have been submitted to Sunderland City Council to bring down the single storey Farringdon Social Club, which is in Anthony Road.

Farringdon Social Club redevelopment of residential accommodation plans

Farringdon Social Club redevelopment of residential accommodation plans

Agent TTS Planning Consultants has said that if permission for the move is granted, residential accommodation will be built in its place, although there are no concrete plans for what type of housing would be created at this stage.

The application reads: “The application site is currently a social club and therefore the proposal for residential accommodation would be the development of brownfield land.

“The site is also within a highly sustainable location being within short walking distance to shops, services and public facilities. “Farringdon Primary School is directly north of the site with St David’s Church immediately to the west.

Farringdon Social Club redevelopment of residential accommodation plans

Farringdon Social Club redevelopment of residential accommodation plans

“There are a number of shops and facilities on Ashdown Road to the south of the site, which includes a Post Office, The Dolphin public house and Gills Golden Fry fish and chip shop. “There is also access to good public transport links with bus stops on Ashdown Road and Allendale Road which are a short walk from the application site.”

The time of accommodation which could be built on the land should the club be demolished is not specified in the plans. The application added: “A proposed layout for a residential scheme would very much depend on the type of development which would eventually be brought forward.

“It is considered necessary that a strong frontage is created along the main highway of Anthony Road. “Therefore it would be suggested that whether apartment blocks or individual houses/bungalows are brought forward, the built form would be built up to the main road, creating parking and garden/amenity areas to the rear of the site.

“It is considered that a suitable residential layout can be delivered which would offer a strong built form in the Farringdon area.” The application adds that a residential scheme would create an improvements in terms of an environmental impact on the surrounding area, with less noise if the social club was demolished.

No-one from Farringdon Social Club or TTS Planning Consultants could be contacted for comment. The application, which can be viewed on Sunderland City Council’s planning portal, is set to be decided on by February 13.

Source: Sunderland Echo

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New plans to build apartments on old brewery site revealed

The latest stage of plans which could see hundreds of homes built at a former old brewery have been unveiled – with 18 new apartments planned for the site.

An application has been submitted to Broxtowe Borough Council‘s planning department by developer Fairgrove Homes.

The company wants to build the new apartments as part of a wider project to redevelop the site of the old Hardys and Hansons brewery, off Harvey Road, Kimberley.

The former brewery was sold to Greene King in 2006, but it was abandoned five years later and was left to fall into disrepair.

It has since been split into a number of smaller development plots and sold to developers, who could eventually build up to 350 homes on the site.

Another application was submitted to the council in October. This sought permission to build 14 new townhouses in the brewery yard.

Originally the plan was to build a three-storey apartment block of 24 one bed rooms. This was approved in 2015.

But the developers chose to instead revise the plans after some opposition from the public, and the plans were re-submitted to seek permission to instead build townhouses, with the company saying it felt there was “more of a need for family homes”.

Chairman of the Kimberley Chinemarelian Historical Society and Kimberley Town Councillor Roy Plumb, 76, welcomed new of the latest planning application.

He said: “This will make the Kimberley area a lot more attractive for people. It is certainly one of the biggest developments we have had since the Victorian-period.

“Of course it would have been great to keep the brewery, but it couldn’t happend. A mixed residential development was the only viable option.

“The developer is keen to retain the heritage of the site, and is forward-thinking with this. The homes will be in-keeping with the site itself.

“It will develop the site into a 21st century living space, and it won’t look out of place for the area.”

The latest application, submitted in December, seeks permission to develop 18 two-bed apartments in the already existing Grade II listed maltings building.

Planning documents submitted by the developer state: “The alterations to the existing building externally are very little and barely constitute development. They will be very minor and will barely impact on the character or appearance of the area.

“The condition of the building is deteriorating rapidly since the closure of the brewery some plus 10 years ago.

“They [the apartments] will enable the building to be put back into viable usage in the long term, and will bring substantial improvements to the area long-term.”

A final planning decision on both this latest application and the one submitted in October has yet to be made by the borough council’s planning committee.

The brewery was originally opened in 1832 and was the major employer in the town with over 200 employees.

Many of the buildings are from the 1850s and 1860s, although over the years new buildings and warehouses have been continually added.

Fairgrove Homes is already developing 23 new-build homes and four conversions on the another part of the site, including 10 detached houses.

Source: Nottingham Post

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UK housebuilders to prefabricate hundreds of homes in factories

One of Britain’s major housebuilders is to prefabricate up to a quarter of its homes in a factory, in the latest attempt by the construction industry to tackle the housing shortage.

Berkeley Homes, which builds 4,000 homes a year, is planning to create a facility in Kent next year where builders will work to produce up to 1,000 houses and apartments annually which will then be craned on to sites.

Another company, nHouse, is setting up a factory in Peterborough with the capacity to build 400 homes a year, complete with light fittings, bathrooms, bookshelves and kitchens. Production is expected to start in January.

It claims it can build a house in 20 days in the factory which can then be erected on site in half a day. Several other developers, including Legal and General and Urban Splash, have also launched prefab home divisions.

Fears of a shortage of skilled construction workers caused by an ageing workforce and an exodus due to Brexit are part of the reason for the revival of prefabrication, which last provided a significant number of homes after the second world war.

The government has set a target of building 300,000 homes a year by the middle of the next decade. Despite recent increases in activity, the last annual figure was 190,000.

A Berkeley spokesman said: “We have acquired a 10-acre brownfield site from the Homes and Communities Agency to build a factory for modular homes in Ebbsfleet, Kent. This will have the potential to deliver up to 1,000 homes a year.

“Construction of the factory could begin next year. While the speed of production and the impact on skills and labour are important factors, our real driver is the quality we can achieve with modular housing.”

The nHouse has been designed by the architect Richard Hywel Evans and is made in four modules from engineered pine panels which are transported on the backs of lorries and are then clipped together on site and connected to pre-existing services. Its built-in features include solar panels, a robot vacuum cleaner and even a drone landing pad – looking forward to a time of aerial deliveries.

A three-bed house is on sale to developers or individual householders from £170,000 to £185,000, which is about the same price as a standard house built using wet trades.

Nick Fulford, the director of nHouse, argues that with 100 workers operating on an indoor production line rather than on muddy building sites in the elements, the homes will suffer from fewer snagging problems.

Source: The Guardian

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New £2.9m bridge will create link between Notts town and village

Funding for a multi-million pound bridge that will support the development of hundreds of new homes has been approved.

The new pedestrian and cycle access overpass will be installed over the A46, connecting the former RAF Newton site – where 550 new homes are proposed – with a plot of land also proposed for new housing in Bingham.

A total of 317 homes could be built on the plot of land, just west of Chapel Lane, by developer Barratt Homes.

The planning application was submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council in September, and is due to be discussed by its planning committee at a meeting in the new year.

The council has been awarded £2,910,000 by Highways England – the government-owned company with responsibility for the operation, maintenance and improvement of the motorways and trunk roads in England – to build the bridge.

The bid to secure the funds began two years ago, and it was confirmed on December 28 that it had been awarded from Highways England’s Growth and Housing fund.

Bingham Town Councillor Sue Hull welcomed the news of the bridge being built, and said it would “connect” both Newton and Bingham together.

She said: “The borough council applied for the funding of the bridge over two years ago now.

“It is needed for the area. The residents on the RAF Newton site feel isolated, as the nearest shops for them are in East Bridgford.

“This new bridge will connect the two sides together. People will be within walking distant of supermarkets, and the post office.

“It will be a quick and direct link to Bingham’s town centre, and will have a huge positive impact on the people from the Newton side.”

It is not known when work on the bridge will start.

The developments are part of the first phase of Rushcliffe Borough Council’s plan to build up to 1,050 new homes as well as shops, a community centre, primary school and allotments and parks in Bingham

Leader of Rushcliffe Borough Council Councillor Simon Robinson said: “Rushcliffe is delighted to be awarded this funding from Highways England Growth and Housing Fund.

“The link bridge directly supports the development of 550 new dwellings proposed at RAF Newton.

“It will provide direct pedestrian and cycle access across the recently dualled A46 between the RAF Newton and Bingham development sites.

“This will mean the current and future residents of the RAF Newton settlement will have sustainable access to a wide range of retail and commercial amenities on offer in Bingham, and better access to employment opportunities in both the town itself and the greater Nottingham area through improved access to public transport links.

“RAF Newton is a key site on the A46 and the funding for the bridge brings us a step closer to realising our targets and ambitions for this key growth corridor.”

Source: Nottingham Post