Step closer to £400m home improvement

PLANS to build or renovate thousands of homes in west Hull have moved a step closer.

The £400m proposals will transform the Newington and St Andrew's neighbourhoods.

Government planning inspectors have now given the go-ahead for the scheme.

It means the 15-year masterplan becomes part of local and national policies governing development.

The detailed long-term plan includes proposals for nearly 2,000 new homes, improvements to about 2,000 existing mainly Victorian and Edwardian properties and the demolition of 1,000 houses.

Improvements will also be carried out to parks, shopping areas and community facilities under the Gateway regeneration agency's programme.

However, the two inspectors who carried out a public examination of the proposals last September have imposed several binding changes.

They include:

Scrapping the idea of building a new secondary school in the Tyne Street area close to Hessle Road.

Refurbishing about 150 properties in Tyne Street instead of demolishing them to make way for the school.

Ruling out land to the south of the KC Stadium being designated for possible hotel, conference and leisure facilities .

Increasing the amount of greenspace at two major new housing sites .

Sparing up to 40 houses in the Wellsted Street area from demolition as well as the Milburn Leisure Centre in Wheeler Street.

The re-think on Tyne Street was exclusively revealed by the Mail after doubts were raised over the availability of funding.

The idea involved the relocation of Endeavour High School from Beverley Road.

Alex Codd, the city council's planning manager, said the inspectors' decision on the KC Stadium did not rule out future development on the land.

But he added: "It does mean that any developer would have to justify why a scheme should be built there and not in the city centre which takes priority in planning terms."