Build-to-rent is needed in city
I READ with interest the report regarding the latest proposals for the Fleece Hotel.
At first glance “The Phoenix Village Project” sounds impressive, apparently offering local young people who may have fallen through the gaps with worthwhile training and support.
However, the devil is in the detail. It appears that the backbone of the scheme is a number of sheltered housing units to be built on the site of the Longsmith Street car park.
As I understand it, troubled youngsters from across the region, or even across the country will be brought to Gloucester to reside in the sheltered accommodation to enable them to gain from and populate the Phoenix Village.
The aim may sound noble, although I suspect in reality this accommodation will be expected to largely fund the costs of running the operation - but anyone who is familiar with Gloucester city centre will be aware that there are already several large sheltered accommodation establishments for people who have drug, alcohol or other behavioural issues in the vicinity, one of which is within a stone’s throw of the Longsmith Street site.
Consequently, the Gate streets suffer from elevated levels of anti-social behaviour that deters some people from visiting the centre of the city, a situation which is likely to be exacerbated by the addition of even more sheltered accommodation.
Residents and traders have voiced concerns about the issue, with many stating that they wished the ambience in the Gate streets was similar to that in the Docks & Quays.
The problem often appears to be an example of “the elephant in the room” which local politicians (of all parties) dare not mention or acknowledge.
In November 2021, Historic England produced an insightful Review Paper about Gloucester city centre.
One of their key findings was that “there was no evident strategy to promote city centre living”, and “it was clear that there needs to be a more active, focussed and better resourced approach to drawing people from a wider demographic to live in the city centre.”
I have lost count of the number of occasions when I have heard aspiring young people say that they have given up trying to find a flat to rent in the central area of the city and have ended up moving to Cheltenham where far more flats are available for rent.
If the city is ever to address this leakage of aspirational young people, it surely needs to find a way of enabling and facilitating development of homes available to rent on the open market.
The Forum and the new Uni campus should be game-changers for the city centre, but where are the potential new workers going to find a home to rent? Are they going have to follow the example of others and live in Cheltenham?
Longsmith Street would be a good location for residential development, the fact that it’s under council ownership should make this easier to achieve.
The former Prison site would be an ideal location for a “build to rent” development, in fact that and the Bakers Quay site could provide 350 new homes between them.
I am aware that viability of such brownfield sites can be challenging, but other towns and cities have succeeded in obtaining substantial sums of brownfield enabling funding from central government to facilitate private sector housing, including build to rent developments; why has Gloucester not been able to do so?
In fact, it’s recently been reported that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities handed back £1.9 billion to The Treasury because it had struggled to find projects to spend it on.
Did the city council submit bids for the Prison and Bakers Quay sites?
The council’s approach seems certain to perpetuate and worsen the existing problems.
To many, it must seem that they either don’t grasp the issues, including basic socio-economics, or have simply given up on the Gate streets altogether.
A few weeks ago, I wrote criticising Cheltenham councillor Max Wilkinson’s comments in which he’d appeared to display complacency regarding the prospects of Cheltenham and Gloucester town centres.
However, could anyone envisage Cllr Wilkinson and his colleagues allowing Council property in the town centre, or the former Cavendish House building being converted into sheltered accommodation?
I recognise that the Fleece is a financial liability to the council, but surely the focus should be on what is best for the city, not just the Council’s shortterm bank balance?