Member Article

Development will bring economic growth

Development of land at Spon Green, Buckley, will bring huge economic benefits to the area, along with much needed, affordable new homes and public open space.

Skye Homes Flintshire Ltd has submitted a full planning application to Flintshire Council for 435 new homes and a small local retail unit, along with new roads, public open space and landscape planting.

The scheme comprises 139 two bedroom properties, 245 three bed homes and 51 four beds in a mix of terrace, semi-detached and detached styles.

In an accompanying Economic Benefits Statement prepared by national consultancy Pegasus Group, Skye Homes said if approved the development would: • Support around 141 direct construction jobs over the build programme • Provide homes for 526 economically active and employed residents • Generate around £608,000 per year in additional Council Tax Revenue • Generate an additional £7.8 million gross value added per annum • Generate an estimated annual spend by the fully occupied households of £10.9 million

A spokesman for Skye Homes said: “The range, scale and size of the properties will be in line with policy and many of the properties will be affordable, shared ownership and discounted rentals.

“Properties will differentiate from one another in size and appearance, and will be planned to respect the residential amenity of the existing area, as well as reflecting the surrounding town of Buckley.

“The proposed site layout has been designed to ensure that it is positively integrated with the existing community, as well as bringing new parks, play areas and an all-weather football area with changing rooms.”

Included in the application is a proposal for a small convenience store, of around 450 square meters, which aims to provide a local retail facility for the new residents.

A Skye Homes spokesman added: “The convenience store is of a scale to attract a Sainsbury’s Local, Co-op Food or Tesco Express type of store. It will provide ample parking spaces with additional disabled bays. The scheme has also been designed to provide off road parking for residents on Spon Green that will assist generally with traffic flows in that vicinity.

“Buckley Town Centre, like most centres, has suffered with the downturn in general retailing however the proposed development will provide the local economy with more than 500 economically active residents who will provide an annual household expenditure of £10.9 million; the proposal of a village shop will further boost jobs supported by retail activities. In fact, the growth in available expenditure in the area means that existing businesses and retailers should see a general and sustainable increase in turnover by 2021.”

The accessibility of the site by car, bicycle and on foot has been looked at in a transport assessment which concludes: “Overall, the site is considered to be reasonably well located in terms of its accessibility demonstrating that future residents will not be wholly reliant on the cars for travel to work, education, leisure and retail purposes.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Taylor .

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