Decision details

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Economy which sought approval to progress the delivery of housing on the former Kaskenmoor School site at Hollinwood Junction.

The Council entered into a Strategic Partnering Agreement (SPA) in relation to council owned land at Hollinwood Junction with Langtree Group plc on 20^th June 2011.

The SPA set out the mechanisms by which the Council and Langtree would work together to promote regeneration at Hollinwood Junction.

In the spirit of partnership working Langtree submitted a mixed-use employment led planning application for the Albert Street site and this was approved in June 2013.

It has always been the intention that the remainder of the site of the former Kaskenmoor school should be part of the Hollinwood Junction Joint Venture proposals. However, at that time it was unclear how much surplus land was available for development and therefore it was not formally included within the revised SPA in 2014.

Following the completion of the New Bridge and Hollinwood Academy which are both located on part of the former Kaskenmoor school site, the surplus land was identified. Therefore in 2016 Cabinet approved the inclusion of the surplus Kaskenmoor school land in the SPA with Langtree and a deed of variation was completed to document this.

Approval to dispose of the School Site under Schedule 1 of the 2010 Academies Act was received in July 2012. Approval to dispose of the School’s Playing Fields under Section 77 of the Schools Standards and Frameworks Act 1998 was received in January 2014.

The Kaskenmoor site was unallocated in the Council’s Local Development Framework, however, it is adjacent to existing housing and therefore subject to planning, it is considered potentially suitable for residential development.

In line with recent pre-app planning advice, the Kaskenmoor site is expected to accommodate up to 150 x two, three and four bedroom houses to meet the needs of the local community as determined from the Council’s housing strategy.

Options/alternatives considered

The options were considered in the commercially sensitive report contained at Item 12 of the agenda.

RESOLVED – That the Cabinet would consider the commercially sensitive information contained at Item 12 of the agenda before making a decision.