By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Publicly-owned land in Gloucester is being sold off for an undisclosed amount to facilitate a housing development in Matson.
Gloucester City Council leaders agreed on July 9 to go ahead with the sale of a ransom strip which forms part of Sneedham’s Green Common.
They say an exchange of land is needed to facilitate Bromford Developments plans to build 180 homes on just under 20 acres of land in Winnycroft Lane – the intention is for around 136 of these properties to be affordable housing.
The land owners have been granted permission to exchange part of the common land which would mean around 3,776 sq ft of land which is currently owned by the council will no longer be classed as common land.
An extra amount of just under 22,520 sq ft of land will be exchanged and included as part of the common land.
The council will not take on ownership or any maintenance responsibility for this additional land, they said.
The main site for the Snow Capel development is being bought by Bromford Developments from a third party.
And they inend to complete the two transactions at the same time.
The City Council will sell the land to Bromford Developments directly rather than to the owner of the main site.
Last week, Bromford Development was granted renewed planning permission to build 180 homes on the site.
The intention is that the proposed development is for 76 per cent affordable housing, which provides an additional 56 per cent over the council’s 20 per cent policy.
As a result the cabinet agreed a 56 per cent discount on the access land to reflect the council’s support for the scheme.
If the additional affordable housing is not used for affordable housing purposes, then an overage clause within the land transfer will be triggered and Bromford will have to pay the market value of the land.
Resources cabinet member Declan Wilson (LD, Hucclecote) said they await the conclusion of an application to deregister the common land and for the land swap to be completed.
“It will provide a new development with 76 per cent affordable housing,” he said.
“That’s definitely not to be sniffed at.”
Housing cabinet member Luke Shervey (LD, Longlevens) said he was totally behind the scheme which is a “critical” part of delivering new affordable housing across the city.
Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said Bromford’s plans were first class.
“There will be a great deal of green space for the residents of this estate,” he said.
“Effectively, the transaction on this land is to remove the landlock to give access to the roads which need to service it.
“The common land will be increased considerably in size by the agreements.
“Despite what others may say, this is an example of this administration working with a registered social landlord to deliver more affordable homes on this development than would have otherwise been the case.”