The grant funding will be used to help build almost 200 homes in Dorset on underused brownfield land, helping local people and families get on the property ladder.
Dorset Council submitted an ambitious bid earlier in the year to the Brownfield Land Release Fund, administered through the One Public Estate Programme and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. £57.8 million has been allocated to councils to develop Brownfield Land into good quality housing while transforming derelict local areas.
Dorset Council’s share of this funding is £2.13m and it will be used to enable work to progress on key sites around the county to free them up for residential development.
An impressive £943,255 has been allocated for enabling works at the site of the former Weymouth and Portland Borough Council offices at North Quay.
The funding allows the council to submit a planning application for demolition, before inviting developers to tender early next year for the development of the land as the Council’s development partner.
As it stands, the current proposal for the North Quay site involves demolishing the existing North Quay building and building residential units with some commercial/community space on site, as well as reinstating the old High Street, all in keeping with the historical character of the area.
Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, said:
“This is a most welcome success and will enable Dorset Council to begin redeveloping the marina area in Weymouth, which, in time and with imagination could become a major attraction for residents and visitors alike.”
A further £775,000 is earmarked, subject to planning permission, to facilitate necessary
drainage and demolition work at the former East Dorset District Council offices at Furzehill, Wimborne unlocking the potential for the residential development of the site.
Additionally, £385,000 will also be set aside to enable sites in the north of the county to be unlocked to allow for 40 homes, all of which is subject to the relevant planning permissions.
Councillor Tony Ferrari, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Growth, Property and Assets, said:
“This grant funding is hugely important for Dorset and is something to celebrate. It will be used to deliver almost 200 new homes, open spaces, community facilities and new workplaces for residents of Dorset by allowing us to unlock the potential of our land and assets.
“The projects that this funding will impact will help us to deliver housing solutions on brownfield sites, which meet their needs.”
Do mean shops or offices when they refer to ‘commercial spaces’ on the site of the old council offices on North Quay? Surely housing is much more of a priority especially when considering the number of empty shops and offices nearby?
Any social housing plans? Its seems you have forgotten about the 6.000 on the waiting list! 😥
Interested how you will get this done; considering your quite dreadful record of getting search’s delivered; and planning agreed. Your timelines are appalling. Yet still good news
Brownfield sites were once our rural and coastal countryside, but as business moved on, were just discarded and left to ruin. It is great that our council is concentrating its efforts on redeveloping these sites instead of digging up more of our beautiful county to make the brownfield sites of the future.
Having decimated Markham and Little Francis fields by chopping down many trees and tearing up the landscape in the current phase, perhaps we can stop any further expansion. Next we will be asked to plant hundreds of trees to compensate for all the house building taking place country wide which most young couples cannot afford…
Reallocation is a better solution rather than building new.
Great news here about reusing Council land. But what about the numerous derelict sites in Weymouth? I have never lived anywhere with less civic pride.
The purpose of the grant is to “develop Brownfield Land into good quality housing while transforming derelict local areas”. Sir Richard Drax’s ambition “to redevelop the Weymouth marina area which could become a major attraction for residents and visitors” doesn’t sound like the same aspiration. I hope that Dorset council will use the money and write the development brief to prioritise the provision of housing for local people.
is that likely though? Many of these new homes end up going o people out of area and are effectively council housing – but not for locals.
If the new houses are ‘affordable’ it will mean that they’ll be beyond the reach of local people on ‘local’ wages. What is being done to provide homes for single people, for families in ‘temporary’ accommodation and all the others on the housing list which, however many new homes are built, never decreases?
Whilst I understand the need for more affordable housing, can we have some reassurance that a thorough investigation into the environmental impact of the demolition of the former council offices on the North Quay Weymouth, is carried out first ? I understand that such demolitions release huge CO2 emissions: surely it would be preferable to reuse a perfectly serviceable building for a mix of flats, small shops and offices, given some imagination ?
More housing means more cars, more people, more school and care home places all of which are limited in that area. Please reconsider. Make some money by building some posh flats in the brewery building Brewers Quay, compulsory purchase now !
Hi Jennifer, this has already been done. You can read the full carbon analysis report here – https://news.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Weymouth-Residential-Carbon-Analysis.pdf thanks, Kirstie