Cabinet decides to purchase land at Langarth in order to take control of development at this large site

There are several parcels of land north of the A390 beyond Treliske Hospital that have planning permissions for a total of approximately 2700 houses. To date, none of these sites have started. Each site has various conditions relating to infrastructure and other obligations. If each site was developed individually without coordination, the end result would be a fragmented series of estates with infrastructure being delivered late in the process and inappropriate duplication of some facilities.

The Council has been considering for some months a strategic intervention such that we can bring some control to the overall development, improving the design, providing appropriate infrastructure such as roads and schools in the right time scale. In order to have effective control, we need to take ownership of some parcels of land so that we can then enter into contractual agreements with other landowners to bring about the best outcomes. Planning conditions are not sufficient to bring about all that we would like to achieve.

On 2 May, Cabinet agreed in principle to the Council making this strategic intervention by purchasing land at one or more of the Langarth sites.

At the Cabinet meeting of 20 June, a specific proposal was put forward for the first of those potential interventions. It is planned to purchase of land sufficient for delivery of 154 plots plus a further area currently allocated for mixed use. Then the Council will work with Sanctuary Housing to develop a viable and high quality scheme for the whole of the site of some 494 houses.

The proposal is simply asking for approval of the land purchase, not the subsequent investment that will be made in developing the land.

Cabinet supported the proposal. This item will now be put to Council on 24 July for approval of the necessary capital. Then commercial and development agreements will be entered into with Sanctuary and Inox in August. Revised reserved matters will be submitted by October with the aim of these being decided by December. Also in December, the outline business case for the first package of infrastructure including the northern access road will come back to Cabinet. Subject to these decisions being positive, the final unconditional agreement to purchase the land will be made by the end of the year.

The transfer of land for the Stadium that is to be made from Inox to the Council is not affected or varied by this proposal land purchase proposal.

June 2018