27 September 2018
Lindum is working alongside City of Lincoln Council to bring forward a long-awaited new community on the edge of Lincoln
After purchasing additional land along the site of the proposed Western Growth Corridor, Lindum is now able to work with the council to draw up an Outline Planning Application for the new neighbourhood.
Earlier this month, the council revealed it had successfully bid for almost £2million to help build a new junction to kick-start the development of 3,200 homes on land off Skellingthorpe Road.
Homes England has offered £1.88m towards the £2.2m cost of the junction at Birchwood Avenue and Skellingthorpe Road.
It would form part of the first infrastructure improvements necessary to bring forward the long-awaited Western Growth Corridor project, which has been in the pipeline for more than 20 years and is one of four sustainable urban extension (SUE) areas identified in the Central Lincolnshire Local Plan.
The Plan, adopted in April 2017, approved the principle for a development of 3,200 new homes (20 per cent of which would be affordable), 20 hectares of commercial/employment space, a new Leisure Village, green space, flood mitigation improvements and a range of improvements to roads, cycle paths and pedestrian routes.
Previous attempts to bring forward the WGC development has been hampered by landownership and transport issues.
However, now Lindum has purchased land from the Scarborough family, the construction company and the council between them own the land required to bring the development forward – making progression of the project simpler than at any other time.
In addition, substantial work to understand, model and analyse the highways/transport issues in the area, including further additional traffic modelling, is ongoing and will inform the final proposals. This work will inform specific consultation events as part of the wider public consultation proposed in November 2018.
Kate Ellis, Director of Major Developments at City of Lincoln Council, said: “Having Lindum increase their involvement in the project is a positive for the city. It will be good for the city council to be working on such a significant project alongside a local construction company with a real stake in the local community and who wants to see the same level of quality housing that we do.”
In order to progress with the planning application, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the council and Lindum will set out how the organisations will work together until the signing of a formal Delivery Agreement towards the end of the year.
It sets out both an intention to reach an agreement on delivering the development subject to obtaining planning consent and the principles for how they will work together to submit that planning application.
It also includes a financial commitment to share the future costs of completing the remaining work required for a planning submission that is non-refundable.
