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Gleeson can now build 387 new homes on the site of the former Sheffield College Campus in Parson Cross.
Construction will start next month with the first homes released for sale early autumn.
The development will take between eight and 10 years to complete and will see a range of traditional 2-, 3- and 4-bedroom, two-storey homes built on the land that has remained vacant since the closure of the college facilities in 2005.
Gleeson’s application was refused by local planners on the grounds that the style of the proposed homes was considered out of character with the local area. Communities secretary Eric Pickles turned it over on appeal.
A spokesman for Gleeson Homes said: “We are delighted that the secretary of state has overruled Sheffield City Council’s decision and granted us permission to transform this vacant land into new homes, which will be priced to suit local people”.
He said that interest from potential buyers showed that the council was wrong to reject the scheme. “Since we held our public consultation event nearly two years ago we have seen unprecedented interest from local buyers and we now have a database of nearly 200 people who are interested in buying on the developments. Many of these people have visited our other developments in South Yorkshire and are amazed with the size and price of the new homes, many comment that the style of Gleeson’s homes are exactly what is needed in the Parson Cross area. We were therefore astounded when then council refused our plans on design. It is clearly a case of Sheffield Council second guessing their community’s requirements and getting it completely wrong, we would like to work with Sheffield Council to regenerate some of their other vacant sites around Sheffield. We gave officers a proposal to develop large areas of land at Manor Top and Attercliffe a couple of years ago but they ignored it.”
Gleeson Homes will be giving Sheffield Council money for local highway improvements and for local school developments. The housebuilder will also be paying for the construction of football pitches, a new pavilion & changing rooms on Remington Park and improvements to football pitches on the existing Colley Park, which equates to an additional financial commitment in excess of £2m.
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