One of the north of England’s biggest-ever housing schemes is set to be approved – a huge new 1,816-home estate on the site of an old colliery and power station. Situated near Junction 8 of the M65 in Lancashire, the £460m new ‘Huncoat Garden Village’ is set to be built on the former Huncoat Power Station and former Huncoat Colliery site.
Last October Hyndburn Council voted to accept £29.9m from the government’s regeneration agency Homes England, to help fund infrastructure for the new estate on the 355-acre brownfield site. Extending the existing small 4,000-resident Huncoat village, near Accrington, with new housing plans include 363 new affordable and social properties and nearly 60 acres of open space, including a new woodland.
Huncoat Garden Village would be delivered by Hyndburn Council, Homes England, and Lancashire County Council and Hyndburn Council’s cabinet are set to authorise the acquisition of land and property needed to build the proposed £6.8m residential relief road.
This week Hyndburn Council’s deputy leader and housing and regeneration boss councillor Melissa Fisher will deliver an update to her senior colleagues at the meeting.
She will ask the cabinet to seek approval for the acquisition of land and property to enable construction of the proposed residential relief road and to obtain consent to start the process towards a Compulsory Purchase Order should the council fail to acquire the required land and property by agreement.
Ms Fisher will also ask for delegated authority to deliver the Huncoat Garden Village project following the council entering the £30m grant funding agreement with Homes England.
The money will pay for the infrastructure works needed to get the area ready for residential development and will unlock £430million of private investments in the area – taking the total planned funding to £460m.
In a report she said “good progress continues to be made” on the project including the selection of a preferred contractor to construct the road and outline planning being submitted for the site.
The overall masterplan envisages the creation over 15 years of a new village centre, an expanded primary school, additional railway station parking, the 60 acres of open space and new woodland, and new sports facilities.
The next steps towards making one of Lancashire’s biggest housing schemes a reality will be taken later.
Previously – after the council agreed to accept the £30m infrastructure grant – leader of Hyndburn Council Councillor Munsif Dad said: “After careful consideration of information, listening to the many opinions about the project and receiving professional advice, the Council is now able to move forward with this project.
“Since we took control of the Council in May this year, Huncoat Garden Village has been at the very top of our agenda and we have had many meetings on the matter with local and national politicians, Council Officers, planners, representatives from Homes England and residents.
“We established a Cabinet Working Group in order to fully scrutinise the project, and they have concluded that the offer of funding should be accepted.
“The new Government have set ambitious house building targets for Hyndburn and large-scale projects such as this will help the Council achieve these – £30million of investment in infrastructure for Hyndburn is good news.
“We are happy to accept this award from Homes England, who we have invited to meet with us in Hyndburn next month, and look forward to delivering the groundwork to provide many news homes.”
While Councillor Melissa Fisher, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Housing and Communities added: “Improving housing standards and access to affordable housing in Hyndburn is one of my top priorities.
“Huncoat Garden Village will deliver over 1,800 new homes, including affordable homes and social housing, over the coming years.
“This £30 million grant will significantly improve the infrastructure of the former power station and colliery site including road access, unlocking over £430 million in private investment to build homes.
“I’m happy that the project includes a village centre, extension to the local school and over 24 hectares of open space.
“As promised, the Council’s Cabinet have thoroughly reviewed the project via our working group and we are now pleased to be able to accept this award.”