Homes plan for former school deferred after developer issues viability warning
A decision on plans from a council's housing company to build homes on the site of a former school has been deferred.
The proposal was to build 23 homes on the site of Bayston Hill's closed Oakland Primary School.
Shropshire Council's Northern Planning Committee said that it wanted more information after the developer, Cornovii – the council's arms-length housing developer – offered less than a third of the amount of money requested for the loss of playing fields.
Councillors also said that information was needed about whether bats are present at the site before they could give the go-ahead.
Sport England had requested that Cornovii provide £70,000 to be spent on local sports pitches, to compensate for the loss of playing fields which are part of the site – although they have not been maintained since the school closed more than ten years ago.
The committee was told the Cornovii is only willing to pay £20,000, or the project's financial viability would be in question.
Part of the deferral was to allow for a viability statement, which would assess the impact of the payment on the overall profitability of the development.
The plans for the development show the site would be accessed off Glebe Road.
As part of the application a '106 agreement' would see Cornovii required to provide two affordable bungalows in the development, as well as two affordable two-bedroom homes.
Oakland Primary School closed around ten years ago and the site was vacated when Oakland and Longmeadow schools merged to form Oakmeadow Primary School.
A decision on the proposal will be taken at a later date.
