NEW CAR PARK PAVES WAY FOR INFIRMARY SITE HOMES
Kerry Move sees plans for estate resurrected
PLANS for a 236-home estate are set to be resurrected.
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust has had planning permission to build up to 236 houses on the old North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary – on Princes Road in Hartshill – since 2014.
But the scheme could not be delivered until the Royal Infirmary site was demolished and staff no longer used it as a car park. Now a £32 million Royal Stoke staff car park is opening next week – freeing up the old Royal Infirmary site.
It means it can now finally be put up for sale.
Lorraine Whitehead, UHNM director of estates, facilities and PFI, said: “We are delighted to finally be in a position to open our new staff car park. Not only will it improve facilities for our staff, but it allows us to move forward with exciting plans to redevelop the infirmary site for possible housing and community facilities.
“We will prepare it for sale with a view to supporting regeneration of the city. We hope in years to come many staff will choose to live and work in the Hartshill area. This will also help local businesses and help with regeneration.
“What we couldn’t afford to do was sell the land before the new car park was up and running, and risk ending up with a situation where we didn’t have parking. We wanted the completion of the car park before we put the land on the market.
“The sale proceeds will be reinvested into the funding for the car park. Ensuring we communicate with residents has been pivotal every step of the way and we will continue with that until the infirmary site is sold and we know the timescale of what is happening.”
The old Royal Infirmary site is included in Stoke-on-trent City Council’s latest five-year housing land supply statement. It indicates 60 new homes could also be ‘deliverable’ by April 2028 – with up to 60 new homes on the central outpatients site, on Thornburrow Drive, Hartshill, by the same date.