Plan for 193-home estate at former Stoke-on-Trent high school site approved
Plans to build 193 homes on a former school site have been approved by councillors.
Lovell Partnerships has secured planning permission for the redevelopment of the former Edensor High School site in Lonton, which has been vacant for over a decade.
Planning committee members at Stoke-on-Trent City Council welcomed the proposals to bring back into use brownfield land close to Longton town centre.
The scheme will include a mix of housing types, ranging from one-bedroom maisonettes to four-bedroom family homes, along with open space and two children's play areas.
Steve Ulfig, of Lovell Partnerships, told the committee that the development would help regenerate the area and provide 'much-needed' housing.
He said: "This brownfield site has been lying unused since the demolition of the former Edensor Technical College in 2014. Since that time it has attracted significant anti-social behaviour to the area.
"The regeneration of this site will not only bring it back into community use, it will also provide much-needed affordable housing, as well as much-needed private housing.
"The remediation of this site will address the mining legacy, with mineshafts and mine workings being treated through ground stabilisation prior to the development taking place.
"Lovell believe this is an exciting opportunity to regenerate the area to create a new community that is well-integrated into the existing area."
While planning rules would normally require a development of this size to include 25 per cent affordable housing, planners accepted Lovell's claim that this would make the scheme non-viable due to remediation costs.
A section 106 agreement will require the developer to provide eight affordable homes, equating to 4.15 per cent of the total. And Mr Ulfig said a 'contractual agreement' would provide a further 40 affordable homes.
The developer will also be required to make a £72,151 contribution towards local sport facilities, and £108,590 towards footpath improvements.
Sport England had objected to the application due to the fact that it will result in the permanent loss of football and rugby pitches – these had been out of use since the school closed.
But planning officers said that this should not count against the application, due to the council having already agreed to provide alternative playing pitches elsewhere
Committee chair Dan Jellyman said: "I think this is a welcome scheme. It's housing on a brownfield site next to a town centre. We really should see more of this coming forward in the city.
In my view it ticks all the boxes – it's reusing land, it's protecting greenspace, and it's close to a town centre, so hopefully we'll see an overspill of footfall going forward."
Councillor Ross Irving, while also welcoming the plans, raised concerns over the impact of 200 or more extra cars on the local road network, particularly the junction with the A50 sliproad, which he said was already hazardous.
But highways officers told the committee that traffic modelling had demonstrated that all junctions in the area would still be within capacity once the development is built.
Committee deputy chair Andy Platt accepted the proposed affordable housing provision based on the developer's viability assessment. But he suggested that the viability of the scheme could be reviewed once some of the homes are built and occupied, to test the accuracy of the assessment.
He said: "I think it's a very welcome scheme. It's locality to the town centre is particularly important.
"The viability assessment is only speculation. I think as sales go on over time, we'll have facts rather than speculation, and I'd very much like to see a review of the viability during the scheme."
But Cllr Jellyman did not allow a vote on this proposal as he had already moved for the application to be approved. Committee members subsequently voted to approve the plans, in line with the recommendation from officers.
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READ: Department for Education data puts college at the 'top of the class'
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