100% council owned social housing development in Rhosddu gets green light to proceed

A redevelopment of a large site in Rhosddu is set to progress, with the council leadership stating historically it would be “100% council owned social housing”.

Last year saw a exploratory report commissioned to make recommendations on the future use of the Rhosddu Road site, with a consideration for social housing.

A £9m sum was discussed for future redevelopments, appearing to be split in £1m of preparatory work, £4m this year and £4m next year from the Housing Revenue Account budget.

Last week a ‘Part 2’ behind closed doors session of the Executive Board discussed the “Rhosddu Road Development”

The meeting approved the “appropriation” of the social care site of around 0.85Ha in area from the council’s General Fund to the Housing Revenue Account.

The council’s Housing Department has been authorised “…to commence a period of consultation with the contract holders, staff and unions on the proposal to decommission the Housing scheme and the adjoining site”, with a further report due once the 12 week consultation period on the decommissioning of the Housing scheme has concluded.

The services on the site from the adult social care services was also referenced, with it agreed that work will take place “…to identify appropriate options for alternate sited for this service. The Executive Board agrees that Social Care (Adult Services) be authorised to commence a period of consultation with Service Users and their families/carers, staff and unions on the proposal to relocate the service once suitable alternative site options have been identified.

“As this part of the development forms phase 2 of the entire development being proposed, it is understood that this consultation and any subsequent actions have no bearing on phase 1 of the development. A further report will then be brought back to Executive Board once these alternate site options have been identified and following the period of consultation on the relocation of the service.”

The council explains, “This proposal allows the HRA to “acquire” land for the development of new build affordable homes. This development will allow the Council to deliver on its commitment to build council housing. This proposal to ‘acquire’ land for development will provide funding to the portfolio of another Wrexham Council Service to progress its proposals for a modern purpose built replacement facility for their clients.”

Although the contents of the report remains confidential, the public explanation refers to secret data as part of telling citizens why a decision was reached, “The requirement for more general needs accommodation is pressing. As detailed in this report, the number of applicants on the Council’s housing waiting list has been increasing, with the majority of the housing demand being for one (1) bedroom accommodation. The proposed redevelopment of the sites in Appendix 1 enables the Council to respond to the significant need for housing in the area.”

There has been much historic debate about the site, with the council famously knocking down Centre 67 and then assessing what the best use of the empty site would be. At the time there was a report that stated there was a risk that the site may not be suitable for future development.

Luckily for the council the new report states the proposed development is “assessed as the best use for the land”.

Top pic: A red line plan from a historic report – there is no indication the site in question has substantially changed.