Work to start next year on 350-homes site in Telford

The Hem will bring 350 new houses in The Nedge after councillors voted by seven to two in January to grant permission to develop the 37.25 hectares (92-acre) site.

An update to next week's meeting of Telford & Wrekin Council's ruling cabinet says: "The site will provide a high quality residential development of family housing in a setting of open green space and comply with Building for a Healthy Life principles."

A developer has been selected for the site and work is due to start next year

The site is one of the key residential development areas released by the Telford Land Deal.

The land deal is where the council is able to use former Homes England-owned land to redevelop for homes and businesses.

Members of the cabinet are set to receive an update on progress on the land dead at their meeting on Thursday. Council officers say progress is being made.

Another, smaller, site at Pool Hill Road, has been sold for the development of 36 homes and work is expected to start there early next year, the report adds.

Those two sites are only the tip of the iceberg for the Land Deal, which is a partnership between Telford & Wrekin Council, Homes England and the Marches Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The council has responsibility to bring forward the sites under the Land Deal and provide ‘shovel ready’ sites available for development for both residential and employment uses.

From April to June this year the council has sold one more commercial site, for £390,000. A further five commercial sites and one residential site are currently being negotiated and are anticipated to make an income of £21m in the year 2022/23.

Those sales are hoped to help create around 442 jobs and 299 new homes.

Under the 10-year Land Deal, the council has been able also to increase the borough's provision of Green Network and Local Nature Reserves.

Councillor Lee Carter, the council's cabinet member for neighbourhood services, regeneration and high street, said: “We are extremely proud of the Telford Land Deal and the positive impact it continued to have across the borough.

"The programme is delivering new infrastructure, creating new jobs and homes and helping business to grow and attract investment."

Since the start of the Land Deal seven years ago, Telford & Wrekin Council has facilitated spend of approximately £21.9m in bringing forward sites for development.

Over the first seven years, the deal has made £8.2m profit, of which the council has a gross share of £6.97m, although that has been reduced to deal with sites that can't be developed.

Councillors have been asked to note the report.