A £30 million 300-home development for Gloucester moves a step closer

A £30 million investment which could see a 300-home ‘high quality urban village’ built on a brownfield site in the middle of Gloucester has moved a step closer.

In recent years Gloucester City Council has been taking ownership of some of the city’s prime sites to ensure what it sees as the right kind of investment – or that investment takes place at all.

One such plot is the former cattle market off St Oswalds Road – and last night the council’s cabinet made a crucial decision in favour working with Rooftop Housing to develop 15 acres of the site.

‘It is a really positive move as it paves the way for a high-quality urban village development providing much needed affordable homes for Gloucester,’ said a spokesman for the city council.

For those who watch these things closely, it will also be an end to concerns over Tesco expanding its footprint onto the land – directly behind its existing store.

It also sees the local authority retain control of what it is thought will become an even more substantial asset, with the property already including the adjacent retail park and housing.

The scheme, not even on the drawing board yet at Evesham-headquartered Rooftop Housing, will aim to achieve as many as 200 affordable homes.

Councillor Andrew Gravells, cabinet member for planning and housing strategy at the council, has described the vision as ‘exciting and ambitious’ and there appears to be cross-party support, in principle.

It is known that Rooftop is extremely keen to work on the project, but it has not stopped Boris Worrall, chief executive of the group, calling it a ‘challenging’ site.

Those challenges are thought to refer to contamination of the land from an old abattoir and cattle market which once stood on the site.

By Andrew Merrell

Follow SoGlos on LinkedIn and sign-up to the weekly SoGlos business newsletter for the very latest Gloucestershire business news stories.