100 new homes planned for former Redcats site

Bridge Homes, a joint venture between Wakefield Council and Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) is planning to build houses at a site previously occupied by the mail order firm Redcats.

The partnership was set up in 2012 to address a shortage of homes in the district.

Seventy of the proposed new homes would be for sale and the remaining 30 would be classed as “affordable” rental properties.

A consultation has been launched on the impact on traffic and green spaces around the Horbury Road site.

Rob Smith, Bridge Homes project manager, said: “Our development on the former Redcats site will consist of a total of 100 properties, 70 of which will be for outright sale and 30 which will be available for affordable rents.

“The impact on traffic and green space are being considered as part of the normal planning process.”

In November 2013 Wakefield Council’s cabinet approved setting up the joint venture with WDH.

The council was to invest £3m from its capital budget into the venture, which would run for 10 years.

An agreement was reached that the partnership would buy three sites from the council at market rates, the Horbury Road Redcats site, land at St Swithun’s Drive, off Stanley Ferry Road, and land at Standbridge Lane in Kettlethorpe.

A report to the 2013 meeting said that any profits generated by the joint venture would be reinvested into providing housing.

The 2013 cabinet report said: “The HJVLLP proposes to deliver high quality, well designed private market for sale and affordable rented homes to offer a greater choice of new homes to prospective purchasers and to accelerate the delivery of more new affordable homes across the district.”

Wakefield Council and WDH now each hold a 50 per cent share in Bridge Homes (Yorkshire) LLP.