New lease of life for former factory site

15 February 2010

A plan to build new homes is set to breathe new life into a derelict former factory site.

RENEW North Staffordshire is working with partners Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and Aspire Housing to regenerate the former Collins and Aikman site at Lower Milehouse.

Half of the new homes will be for rent, with 32 proposed for shared ownership and eight to be sold at the normal market rate.

The 80 homes are set to be completed by 2011 and further development phases resulting in 130 more homes could follow.

A house building company had previously unveiled plans to take on the site, but the work failed to get underway.

Now a new Government programme, Kickstart, has allowed the public sector partners to step in to provide affordable homes and a boost to the recession hit building trade.

Most of the finance for the scheme – just over £7 million – will come from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency.

The scheme continues major regeneration work in the Lower Milehouse area which has seen derelict land transformed by projects such as the Mill Rise Extra Care housing and a health centre for NHS North Staffordshire.