"Multi-million pound regeneration for rundown Coventry flats"

[dutchman]

This is the current state of the access road to the estate which runs parallel to Windsor Street:



That is not demolition work, that is fly-tipping from other parts of the city!

[dutchman]

Re: The picture above, Citizen erected bollards which prevented flytippers from using the car parks either side of Kerry House and on finding this they dumped their loads in the access road instead.

The mess has since been cleared up and contractors of some sort moved onto the car park which now has an additional security fence.

[dutchman]

(again!)

Major plans set to transform part of Coventry take step forward



Plans set to dramatically change an area of Coventry could soon take a major step forward. Citizen has sent its scheme to redevelop a 1960s estate in Spon End to the council for approval.

Documents with plans reveal more details of what the social housing group is proposing. It comes six years after they announced plans to "transform" this part of the city.

The group's application expires in late June. If plans are approved, Citizen will knock down almost 450 homes at the site and build 750 dwellings, mostly flats, to replace them.

Other changes to roads, the river and the wider site billed as improvements are also proposed. A planning statement on behalf of Citizen claims the housing that will be lost is run-down, inefficient and out of date.

It describes the new homes as "high-quality" and a "significantly safer housing option in a high flood-risk area." More than half the new dwellings will be so-called "affordable" properties.

Over a third, 283, will be social housing though just four of these homes will have more than two bedrooms. The vast majority of new homes will be one or two-bedroom flats in blocks at least five storeys high and 27 family houses are planned as well.

Citizen are also planning to add a new boardwalk, footpath and seating by the River Sherbourne which runs through the site. They want to revamp two bridges at the river and carry out "engineering works" to its riverbed and banks to improve flow and drainage.

Plans also aim to make sure there is "no flood risk" to people living in the homes or around the site. The statement claims there will be major upgrades to public spaces in the area including tree planting, play areas and better walking and cycling links.

More car parking spaces are planned and there will be a new priority access onto Windsor Street. Citizen is asking for full permission for part of the scheme and "outline" permission for a section with 462 homes by Butts Road.

It means the area with "outline" approval will need more details to be agreed in future before work starts. If plans get the go-ahead the first buildings could be completed in three years and the whole scheme finished in 2036.

Full details of the plans can be found on the council's planning portal via reference: PL/2025/0000548/FULM.

It's more like "One step forwards, two steps back" at the moment!

[dutchman]

Exactly what could change in Spon End if huge scheme goes ahead



Huge plans set to transform part of Spon End could soon get the go-ahead from the council. But what exactly will happen if it gets the green light?

New details have emerged of Citizen's bid to redevelop the site between Meadow Street, Upper Spon Street and butts Road. Overall, the housing group plans to replace nearly 450 homes with 750 dwellings.

They also plan to make changes to the river, public spaces and roads. But not all work will happen at the same time, according to documents validated by the council last week.

Citizen has divided the land into three areas, each with its own plans and timings. One part of the scheme, area two, is only at an "outline" stage meaning more details would need to be approved in future.

It is applying for full permission for the other two zones. Below we have put together a list of the main developments that are set to happen in each area, based on reports with the latest plans.

Citizen's application will expire at the end of June meaning plans could be decided on in the next few months. Scheme documents can be viewed on the council's planning portal via reference: PL/2025/0000548/FULM.

Area one

• Where: South of Upper Spon Street, between Meadow and Windsor Street and north of Sherbourne Street.
  
• Buildings set to be knocked down: Milestone House, Kerry House and Trafalgar House.
  
• Planned new homes: 209 homes for social rent, made up of 60 one-bed and 149 two-bed flats, and 52 two-bed flats at intermediate rent. Housing will be in four blocks mainly 5 storeys high with some taller [up to nine-storey] and shorter [four-storey] sections.
  
• Other changes: Units for shops or businesses on the ground floor of two buildings. New walking routes, upgrades to the river and bridges and 77 added parking spaces for residents. New priority access onto Windsor Street.
  
• When it is set to be finished: 2028

Area Two

• Where: South of the River Sherbourne and to the north of Butts Road
  
• Buildings set to be knocked down: Spon Gate House, Grindlay House, Drinkwater House, George Poole House, Givens House, Gardner House, Fennel House, Winslow House and Corrie House and the Hampton Public House [the Hamptons pub]
  
• Planned new homes: Up to 462 homes. Details not confirmed yet but an "indicative mix" shows 343 would be for sale, 70 for social rent and 50 for intermediate rent. Almost all would be one or two-bed flats apart from nine three-bed apartments earmarked for sale. Flats will be in four blocks ranging from 8 to 18 storeys tall, according to plans showing the scheme's parameters.
  
• Other changes: Landscaping and improvements to public spaces have also been applied for but these details will only be confirmed later, along with all issues except for access.
  
• When it is set to be finished: 2035

Area Three

• Where: North of the River Sherbourne, between Sherbourne Street, Windsor Street and Upper Spon Street.
  
• Buildings set to be knocked down: Properties on Sherbourne Street, Wellington Gardens, and a parade of shops and building on Upper Spon Street.
  
• Planned new homes: 27 three-storey family houses, some with two-storey elements. Including 20 homes for sale, three three-bed homes for intermediate rent and four four-bed homes for social rent.
  
• Other changes: New 'pocket parks' and landscaping, 54 car parking spaces, river and bridge improvements, a new access road from Upper Spon Street with no through route to Windsor Street.
  
• When it is set to be finished: 2036

[dutchman]

New Coventry flats will all be 'affordable' as more revealed about £120 million scheme



A development of more than 250 flats in Coventry is set to be entirely 'affordable' amid "low values" in the area. Housing group Citizen plans to rent most of the 261 homes that will replace a derelict 1960s estate in Spon End.

The scheme is the first part of their £120 million project to regenerate the Coventry suburb. Regeneration chief Kevin Roach told us more as demolition work started on the former estate at Windsor Street last week.

Mr Roach said the 261 new flats on the site will all be "affordable" including 209 at social rent and 52 'rent to buy.' "Ideally what we would want to do is have a more mixed tenure of open market sale and affordable homes, from a regeneration perspective," he admitted.

"But the values in these areas is quite low at the moment. And therefore it costs us more to build than actually the homes are worth to sell on the open market."

Overall, the group plans to replace a total 450 homes with 750 new ones in its £120 million scheme. They aim to replace about 402 affordable social housing on a near one-to-one basis and the rest, some 300 homes, will be sold on the open market, according to Mr Roach.

"That will then create a mixed tenure, a more sustainable, balanced community," he claimed, adding that around four-fifths of the site is social rented accommodation. "What we find from regeneration scheme[s] is to bring that mix of tenure in and you know, to lift the area up in terms of the values you need to bring in that owner-occupation."

Asked how they solve the problem of it being more expensive to build rather than sell, he said they will be making funding bids and also hope to see the impact of the work on the area's values. He said: "The values aren't there so we look for support from the government in terms of funding bids to Homes England and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA.)

"So we'll be making those funding bids for phase one. What we hope to do is that what we achieve, what we are aiming to deliver in phase one and the extent of works that we're doing will lift those values for the later phases in the project - which will then hopefully not rely on as much government funding as we require for phase one."

Of the social housing to be built in the regeneration project, only four will have more than one or two bedrooms according to current plans. Asked if they had considered including more, Mr Roach said three-bedroom flats are "not really ideal" for family housing and it is not what the demand is.

"Three bedrooms are meant for families and therefore you want to provide those appropriate housing, low-rise housing." He also pointed out that a later stage of the project will include family housing with more bedrooms.

He added that on the council waiting list there is a need for one and two-bed accommodation. People living in buildings that will move from later phases of the scheme will also get the first opportunity to move to new homes if they wish to and most of these homes are two-bedrooms, he added.

Asked when residents in the blocks involved in the other phases of the scheme will be moving out, he said: "Our first challenge is to get phase one [the 261 flats] started and then completed.

"Once we've got that started then the latter part of this year, early next year, we'll be then developing our strategy for moving residents out and agreeing what that area is." He added: "At the moment phase two or phase three doesn't stack financially for us.

"So hopefully say [sic] as we lift those areas we'll be able to then make decisions about then where do we start next."

TLDR: The money has run out!