£4.75m plan to fill ‘void’ on Kirkby estate with 34 council homes due for approval

Ashfield Council’s planning committee is recommended to approve the authority’s plans, for Warwick Close on the Coxmoor estate, during their next meeting, on Thursday, August 25.

It comes as part of a £4.75 million project to bring new life to now-vacant land that once housed council flats.

If approved, the ‘good-quality, low-rent’ social houses would be built on land previously blighted by anti-social behaviour before the council demolished the flats 12 years ago.

The demolition left sections of land on either side of existing Warwick Close homes, which would be redeveloped with the new housing.

Documents confirm the project will include 18 two-bedroom and 16 three-bedroom semi-detached homes.

The land was previously allocated for council-owned housing in December last year, with the authority’s cabinet stating £1.46m of the project is to be funded via Homes England.

The remaining £3.29m, will be funded by the authority and supported through Right-to-Buy receipts.

Previous council forecasts suggested the properties will provide the authority £187,874 per year in rent income and help reduce a 4,000-person waiting list for properties in Kirkby.

It comes as part of the authority’s plan to build 100 social or council homes between 2018 and 2023 – a target Coun Jason Zadrozny, council leader, says has been surpassed.

Coun Tom Hollis, deputy council leader and portfolio holder for housing, previously said the homes will help regenerate the site and provide good-quality homes for residents.

He said: “The site used to be council housing before it was knocked down and it has been a bit of a void in the middle of the estate.

“Now we’ve got a chance to not only regenerate the site, but to provide some good-quality, low-rent social homes for people to live in.”

Three objections were raised during a public consultation about the plans, focusing on properties being overlooked, issues with the boundaries of existing homes and potential anti-social behaviour issues.

However, no objections were raised by consultees from organisations such as Nottinghamshire Council, Severn Trent Water and the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

The council will be asked to pay £24,500 to Nottinghamshire Council for bus stop improvements, with a further £18,423.75 needed for healthcare contributions.