A DECISION date has been set for a plan to transform a rundown city neighbourhood.

As previously reported, designs have been lodged that promise to turn the dilapidated Weston Lane shopping parade into 70 new homes, a library and a supermarket.

Now planners will consider whether to give the vision t h e green light on Tuesday, July 30.

It has been a long-termgoal of city council chiefs to renovate the site and, following two years of planning, French firm Bouygues Development has handed in its plans to transform the site.

Forty houses and 30 flats – including up to 32 affordable homes – would be created each with their own parking.

 

Daily Echo:

Residents have until Thursday, June 13, to give their feedback on the plans Woolston councillor and Cabinet member for housing Warwick Payne said: “There is no doubt that after the walkway collapsed in Kingsclere Close that the old buildings could not remain unless millions of pounds were spent on them to make them fit for the future.

“I believe that it would have been the wrong decision as I think Weston deserves something better.

“The scheme on the table is the scheme that provides the most amount of houses, rather than flats and the most amount of community space, including the library, that the council could get money it was willing to put into the scheme.

 

Daily Echo:

“Unless the developer could provide those we were not interested in doing business.

“However, we had a developer who jumped at the chance at bringing forward a plan to radically transform a corner of Weston.”

The development is expected to be completed by autumn 2015.

The council has agreed to provide £600,000 of funding towards the development between now and 2015.

Bouygues has not revealed how much the scheme will cost.