Former schools among sites set for new housing

TWO former school sites are among six places earmarked for new housing by South Gloucestershire Council.

The local authority hopes to build hundreds of new homes on the council-owned blocks of land in Frenchay, Harry Stoke, Emersons Green, Thornbury, Filton and Warmley. The potential pipeline of sites, selected from more than 100 parcels of council land, were revealed at this month’s cabinet meeting.

The council is also looking to set up a housing delivery partnership with a neighbouring local authority, it emerged.

The possible partnership with Bath & North East Somerset Council via its housing company, Aequus Developments Ltd, is part of a new joint venture approach to housing delivery the council is pursuing.

Instead of setting up its own housing company, the council aims to work with like-minded developers, such as B&NES Council and housing associations, to provide “higher than market standard” housing where at least a third of the homes are affordable.

One of the first sites in the potential development pipeline to come forward will be at Malmains Drive in Frenchay.

Mulgrove Farm in Harry Stoke is likely to be next out of the starting blocks.

Other sites named in a new cabinet paper include:

Vinney Green in Emersons Green; the Castle School Sixth Form site on Gloucester Road and 32 Gloucester Road in Thornbury;

» Charborough Road in Filton;

» the former Grange School in Warmley. The Castle School Sixth Form is set to relocate to the Castle School’s main site on Park Road, and Grange School closed in 2016. There are no more details about any of the sites in the cabinet paper from December 1, but Aequus Developments has submitted a planning proposal for 30 homes on land east of Malmains Drive.

Cabinet members gave their approval for council officers to progress work on a joint venture with B&NES Council via Aequus, explore joint venture partnerships with other developers, and develop business cases for the proposed development sites.

“If for any reason the draft business case is not viable then any one of these sites can at that stage be removed from the pipeline,” a cabinet paper says.