A care home in Clifton that has stood empty for more than eight years will be turned into new council homes to help reduce a growing waiting list.
Laura Chambers Lodge, in Swansdowne Drive in the Clifton East ward, has been vacant since 2016.
Nottingham City Council had been planning to convert the building into temporary accommodation; however, the authority ultimately decided this was unsuitable.
Following changes in government Right to Buy policy, funding has now been made available to use the site for the development of 40 units of council housing.
The plan was approved at an Executive Board meeting on Tuesday (17 December).
Cllr Jay Hayes (Lab), executive member for housing and planning, said: “Laura Chambers Lodge was due to be a site for temporary accommodation, but after [assessing] costs, it was deemed unsuitable. Other sites are now being looked at for temporary accommodation.
“Since the changes came in for Right to Buy from the new government, we’ve been able to look at sites like Laura Chambers Lodge for new council housing, and we’ve decided to go ahead with approximately 40 units, possibly more, to develop a site of much-needed houses and flats.
“The new units will help to bring down our waiting list and move people out of temporary accommodation.”
The scheme was drawn up after the Labour Government agreed to pay back £10.5m in Right to Buy receipts to the council in October.
The money had originally been paid to the former Conservative Government, which had imposed a condition requiring councils to use Right to Buy receipts within five years.
Cllr Hayes and the council’s new chief executive, Sajeeda Rose, wrote to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to request the money be returned following a relaxation of the condition.
In total, £8.37m from the returned money will be used for the scheme, on top of a further £1.4m in Section 106 money, which is typically provided by the developers of other schemes in the city to make them more acceptable.
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Cllr Hayes said the scheme will reduce the council house waiting list, on which there are more than 10,000 people.
The vacant building had also been costing the authority £70,000 each year to look after and keep secure.
Cllr Andrew Rule, who represents the Clifton West ward for the Nottingham Independents and Independent Group, added: “It is really welcome that we have finally got a plan and the funding.
“What I would say is there is an opportunity to gear towards elderly residents to free up family housing in the ward and conurbation, so I would encourage you to explore that as much as possible.
“I think there is also an opportunity to do a lessons-learned exercise because obviously it has been frustrating for the families of former residents of Laura Chambers, as well as the neighbouring properties, over how long it has taken to get to this point.”
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