Council set to approve proposals for new homes in Bulwell and St Ann’s

Nottingham City Council is set to approve the development of proposals to build new council homes in Bulwell and St Ann’s as part of the Building a Better Nottingham programme. 
 
The proposal for Bulwell would see an under-used garage site behind the Colston Road and Austin Street flats transformed. The site currently has 54 garages, 33 of which are empty. There have been issues with vandalism and the misuse of vacant garages for rubbish and fly-tipping; two are sealed up following fire damage. The council would seek to support people renting garages at the site to find suitable alternative units nearby.
 
The new homes at the site would likely comprise 32 one-bed flats in a four-storey block, although this would be subject to detailed design considerations and a successful planning application, and the aim is to have the flats built and ready to be let by late 2027. 
 
Robin Hood Chase in St Ann’s had new retail units and Wainwright House, an independent living community with 40 apartments for older people, built back in 2012, along with a new community square at the front of the Chase Neighbourhood Centre. The remaining parade of older shops is now mainly vacant and owing to its location is unable to attract the commercial rents required to justify its improvement. 
 
The Robin Hood Chase proposals are for around 15 new council houses. Like the flats in Bulwell, they would be energy efficient to minimise bills for residents and would have rents set at affordable levels. 
 
Both developments are proposed to be funded through Right to Buy Replacement funding - the rules around funding new social housing by using the revenue from people buying their own council houses to build new ones has changed recently; formerly only 50% of Right to Buy revenue could be used; it has now increased to 100%.  

Cllr Jay Hayes, Nottingham City Council’s Executive Member for Housing, said, “We currently have over 10,000 households on the waiting list. 
 
“Increasing the number of council homes by building developments such as these not only helps us achieve our targets around creating better housing in the city, it also helps to create warm and comfortable permanent homes for Nottingham people in housing need.”