Under the plans, 27,773 square metres of new residential floorspace will be created on the brownfield site to provide up to 182 new homes. The existing building on the site, a country house built in 1846, will be converted into 14 new homes.
Parts of the development site, which are now vacant, previously accommodated a research facility. The Council said, when it resolved to grant permission to the scheme in October last year, that the proposed residential development was an "appropriate change of use" and that the previous site was "not viable to be retained as an employment facility."
The Council also said that the proposed provision of affordable housing would fall below the local policy requirement of 30%. However, it said that the proposed provision would address an "identified need" and that it was supported by a viability assessment which illustrated that the developer had calculated that the development would not be viable otherwise.
“We are delighted to have obtained planning consent for this large development, which will breathe life into a brown field site," said Land Improvement managing director Kevin Moriarty according to reports. "We see further opportunities across the UK to package land for development and we are encouraged by the Coalition’s determination to break the planning status quo."
"The country needs new homes to be built and LIH has specialist experience of working with local authorities and communities to bring land forward. We have a strong development pipeline and expect it to grow,” Moriarty said.
