More than £2.3 million of Government funding to boost economic recovery in Devon
The money, from the One Public Estate programme, will support councils in delivering initiatives
More than £2.3 million of Government funding has been awarded to a partnership of councils in Devon to help deliver five local regeneration schemes to boost economic recovery.
The One Public Estate programme aims to support councils to deliver initiatives which create economic growth through unlocking land for new homes and jobs; providing new opportunities to save on running costs or generating income funding; or transforming services.
Schemes for Torquay town centre, Marsh Barton, Clifton Hill, and Vaughan Road in Exeter, and Brunswick Wharf in Bideford have received the cash from the One Public Estate funding and from the Land Release Fund.
"There was high demand for both of these funding pots so I’m pleased that these projects have made successful bids to help deliver the objectives of the programmes. It demonstrates what we can achieve in the county through working closely with our partner authorities."
Cllr Rufus Gilbert - Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy and Skills
The projects to benefit are:
TORQUAY
Transforming Torbay has received £150,000 to cover feasibility studies, masterplanning and project management, and the project funding will support the ongoing transformation of Torquay Town Centre, improving the environment and opportunities for Torquay residents, and understanding new ways in which primary care and other health services can be delivered in Torbay, identifying assets that can be released for housing or employment uses.
This includes developing a business case for solar farms to generate energy, reducing costs to the health services and driving forward Torbay Council’s Climate Change strategy, with a site in Nightingale Park having previously been identified
MARSH BARTON
The Marsh Barton Delivery Framework has received £150,000 for feasibility studies, masterplanning and the development of a delivery framework.
The work will consider how to unlock the redevelopment of this part of the city to deliver a new mixed-use city quarter. Redeveloping Marsh Barton in this way will contribute to the success and realisation of the Liveable Exeter programme as well as helping the city achieve its 2040 Vision and Net Zero ambitions.
As part of the Liveable Exeter vision, Marsh Barton offers the largest opportunity within the Liveable Exeter programme to deliver a significant number of new homes as part of a mixed use community, with the potential to become more than just a dormitory suburb and become a new town within the city, building on Garden Community principles with scope to deliver up to 5,000 new homes as part of a mixed use community.
Mobility hubs, linear parks and digital connectivity will all take the place of expanding car parks and roads and offer the opportunity to create a ground-breaking development anchored around a comprehensive and sustainable urban mobility network, and the future Marsh Barton will connect with Water Lane and the City Centre, to become a super-connected place which builds on existing under-utilised and redundant infrastructure to deliver world-class sustainable and active travel opportunities.
The plans could see 5,544 homes built, mainly in flats, remain an important employment and retail area, but with the integration of living and working where uses are compatible, to make better use of riverside location, as well as new work space, and community space and school sites.
CLIFTON HILL
Clifton Hill, Exeter, will receive £425,000 for demolition and enabling works for the redevelopment of the former leisure centre site into housing.
The site will be redeveloped by Exeter City Living (Exeter City Council’s wholly owned development company) to provide 42 new “Passivhaus”, low carbon, climate resilient homes as part of the Council’s 2040 Vision with a focus on “placemaking” – which moulds the places where we live, into neighbourhoods. The development, which has been designed in accordance with Building Biology Principles, has been awarded a Building with Nature Design Award, and is targeted to start on site early next year.
Exeter City Council’s planning committee last December almost unanimously approved the plans to demolish the former Clifton Hill sports centre in Exeter and replace it with 42 new homes.
The 42 new dwellings comprise a mix of 11 five-bedroom and 20 four-bedroom houses as well as seven two-bedroom flats and four flats with one bedroom.
VAUGHAN ROAD
The redevelopment of the site in Vaughan Road in Exeter has been awarded just over £795,000 for demolition, site clearance and enabling works.
The site will be redeveloped by Exeter City Living to provide 92 new Passivhaus, low carbon, climate resilient apartments of which 60 will be affordable for the councils own Housing Revenue Account. This site is again designed in accordance with Building Biology Principles and is also part of the council’s 2040 Vision with focus on placemaking. The project is scheduled to start on site later this year.
The existing sheltered accommodation buildings of Whipton Barton House, in Vaughan Road, will be demolished as part of the project.
The new Passivhaus standard dwellings will be arranged in three- and four-storey blocks around the perimeter of the site – with a communal garden and play area at its centre.
BRUNSWICK WHARF, BIDEFORD
The plans for Brunswick Wharf have been awarded £797,000 for stabilisation and remedial works to the historic harbour wall as part of the site enabling works and flood defence scheme, opening the way for an estimated £22.6 million investment to create.
The scheme, which Torridge District Council’s plans committee backed earlier this year, include 85 homes, five design studios with potential for live/work opportunities, seven retail units, a signature restaurant and separate café, a new public realm, including a riverside walk and public art, generating vibrancy and acting as a springboard for further investment into surrounding riverfront sites, 64 FTE jobs created in addition to 240 FTE construction jobs generated during the construction phase, and an ambition to create a Net Zero development with a net gain in biodiversity.
The £20m plus scheme from Red Earth Developments aims to breathe new life into this neglected stretch of waterfront, bringing vital long term investment to the East-the-Water area, with councillors told ‘this is the kind of sustainable green development we should be building to tackle climate change and will be a place that Bideford will be proud of and where people come to relax and enjoy.
The Devon and Torbay One Public Estate Partnership (Devon County Council, Exeter City Council, Torbay Council and Torridge District Council) has received £330,000 of One Public Estate (OPE) funding and £2,017,568 from the Land Release Fund.
The OPE programme aims to support councils to deliver initiatives which create economic growth through unlocking land for new homes and jobs; providing new opportunities to save on running costs or generating income funding; or transforming services.
The Land Release Fund supports small-scale infrastructure works to improve quality of life and to overcome barriers which would otherwise make land unusable for development.