Council hopes to build new affordable housing on former care home site in Kirkby
The site of a former care home in Kirkby has been earmarked by Ashfield District Council for affordable housing.
Kirklands Residential Care Home and Day Centre, on land off Fairhaven, near Kingsway, closed in 2016 and was demolished five years ago.
Now the council has submitted a planning application for 20 new homes to help with a shortfall in the district of properties that people on its waiting list can afford to buy or rent.
If the scheme goes ahead, there would be four three-bed semi-detached homes, six two-bed semis, a couple of two-bed bungalows, four two-bed flats and four one-bed flats. All would be classed as 100 per cent affordable.
No time scale has been set for the development, but the council has hired the Lincoln-based construction giants, Lindum Group, as its agent.
Lindum has compiled a lengthy planning statement, outlining all the details. It says: “The proposed development would make a noteworthy contribution to affordable housing provision in Kirkby and the wider Ashfield district.
"It would be of a high-quality design and would assist with the shortfall of affordable housing within Ashfield.”
The site is about 100 metres from another development of 16 dwellings that is currently being built on a former garage site at the end of Central Avenue.
This has been named in honour of soldier Adrian Sheldon, an Army rifleman who grew up in Kirkby but was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2009, aged just 25, and was laid to rest in the nearby Kingsway Cemetery.
Lindum says: “The Fairhaven application draws inspiration from the Adrian Sheldon View development. The proposed house types would reflect those used in that scheme to maintain consistency with the established local character.”
The Kirklands homes would be accessed by building a new road, spanning 40 metres, from Fairhaven. Some trees would have to be removed, but others and new hedges would be planted as part of “a detailed landscaping plan”.
The site, which does not sit within a conservation area, would be fully sustainable, says Lindum, with PV panels “to minimise energy consumption” and electric vehicle (EV) charging points.
The council’s planning officers are now considering the application and have set a deadline of Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24) for a decision or recommendation.
Residents can inspect the proposal on the council’s website.
THE details of many planning applications can be found in public notices advertised by local and regional newspapers. To catch up on all the latest public notices, go to https://publicnoticeportal.uk/