90 homes earmarked for college site in Cheltenham
AROUND 90 homes could be built on the site of a former Cheltenham school in a major new development.
Christ College, in Arle Road, closed a year ago as students moved into the £24.6 million All Saints' Academy.
And this week The Clifton Diocese, which owns the site, said plans to build 90 homes, of unknown size, for the area could be submitted before the end of the year.
Phil Gibbons, a spokesman for the diocese, said: "This development hopes to make provision for 90 new houses as well as securing a community asset for the future of sport in Cheltenham.
Dyson DC50i - Bagless upright vacuum cleaner - BALL Technology -...
View detailsThisi is Dyson's smallest upright vacuum cleaner with the performance of a full size upright machine. The DC50i has Dyson's most advanced cleaner head technology and 2 Tier RadialTM cyclones.
Terms: LIMITED STOCK OFFER. FREE delivery to most UK postcodes - Next working day dispatch.
Contact: 01664 491439
Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013
"The Clifton Diocese, and more particularly our agents, have been in pre-application discussions with Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucestershire Highways among others.
"We will shortly be embarking upon a public consultation exercise with the anticipation of submitting an outline planning application before the end of the year."
Bulldozers rolled onto the site in Arle Road in July.
The demolition of the former school buildings and the caretakers' house is expected to finish at the end of this week.
However, contractors will remain on site for a short time tidying things up.
The diocese has already pledged to keep the sports hall on site and reopen it for community use.
The church has been in discussions with an organisation who could take on the running of the hall.
Mr Gibbons added: "We are still in detailed discussions with an organisation regarding the management of the sports hall.
"We hope to conclude those soon and if these discussions can be satisfactorily concluded, then the organisation could take the building on very quickly.
"When it might open would be a matter for them."
Christ College opened in September 2007 and was previously St Benedict's Catholic College.
At the time, it was the first joint Roman Catholic and Church of England school in Gloucestershire.
Church bosses previously instructed the contractors, Bath Demolition, to minimise noise, dirt and nuisance for residents during the knocking down of the college.
The plan was for hoses to be fitted with fine mist water sprays to keep dust levels to a minimum and for materials being removed from the site to be loaded in protected sheets to prevent debris escaping.
Comments
by raidermanuk
Thursday, September 20 2012, 8:46PM
“Excellent they've not dragged their heels in improving the asset value of this site and it'll turn out to be a nice little earner for The Clifton Diocese charity. Not that they really need the money with balance sheet net assets of over £32,000,000 and an annual surplus of income over expenditure of about £850,000 for the past 5 years - it's growing nicely thank you!
Well done to Bishop Declan and his team for their financial acumen. (Their mission will be of greater importance however it's their successful financial management that facilitates the achievement of their goals.)”
by Matt1006
Thursday, September 20 2012, 11:55AM
“Brownfield site redevelopment for housing. Yes. Good.
Guess we'll have to wait for a formal planning application to see what the houses are like, and whether the site can take 90 of them. But good to see that something will hopefully happen with the site in the not-too-distant future, and hopefully it won't sit as a vacant plot for too long once the demolition works are complete.
More of the same, please.”
by justbecause
Thursday, September 20 2012, 11:43AM
“Great stuff! We need redevelopment of this site into good housing stock in the area. Jobs and homes, lets get them built, and may we wish the Clifton Diocese a speedy route through the planning process.”