Locals Show Strong Support For Taking Charge of St Ann's Development

Yesterday 100 local people turned out at two meetings which aim to start a process to claw back control of the huge housing development on the St Ann's site.

The redevelopment of the St Ann's site has been on the cards for several years, but with planning permission now granted and more than half the site empty, it is likely that the health trust will set the development process in train soon, probably in 2016. 

The changes will see hospital services concentrated in the eastern third of the current site. The remaining site will be sold for development. As things stand, the land is likely to be snapped up by a developer who will reap an estimated £30M profit.

The St Ann's Redevelopment Trust has been formed as a partnership between local people and a housing association. Their aim is to remove developer profit from the equation and allow the local community to drive development decisions. The idea is to do that by putting together a bid to buy the site and act as the developer on behalf of the community.

When I first heard of the scheme a few months back, I thought it would all come to nought but a page of scribbled lines. But the group has made incredible progress. They have already succeeded in having the hospital listed as an 'asset of community value', and have made a start on financing by building up a war chest £30,000. 

An early autumn survey organised by Start was the community's first chance to make their views about the future of the hospital site known. With over 350 responses, apparently the survey attracted more interest than most council surveys.

That high level of interest was sustained through yesterday's two meetings. When I arrived for the evening session, there was a handful of people chatting over peanuts and boxes of fruit juice - all pretty much what I expected. However, by the time the meeting finished, numbers had swelled to over 50 and the excited buzz generated over the evening came from a real sense of the possible.

To kick things off last night, we heard from John Ross, of 6A Architects whose firm has been commissioned to work on the project and Blase Lambert, chief officer of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing. It was fascinating to learn how other communities have come together in similar situations to take control of their neighbourhood's destiny. One example shared with us was the Oxo Tower building. By developing a mixed use tenure, the co-operative running that scheme ensured a high level of affordable housing was made available to the local community.

With appetites whetted, most of yesterday's meetings were given over to those who attended. People split up into four groups to discuss the future of the site and the sorts of things they wanted to see.

The feedback from the groups was surprisingly coherent. People seemed to want:

• Much higher levels of affordable housing than would be provided by a developer
• Mixed tenure and a mixed community - creating a welcoming space for older people came up several times.
• Protection of the green assets already present on the site
• Reuse of existing buildings where possible
• A development that includes good design was stressed and five or six storey buildings seemed to be welcomed
• The group seemed to want to maximise public space and minimise the amount of the site that would be given over to private space.
• Various suggestions were made about other amenities that might be included - shops, a town square and even a building that could be used for meetings and the arts.

To be honest, I didn't attend the evening expecting that much, but I left impressed by the community interest and impressed in particular by the remarkable progress made by Start in such a short time.  I am now able to see the possible and genuinely believe that the group really does have a good chance of doing something special here. Bloody good luck to them!

If you'd like to get involved you can contact Start through their Facebook group (see link above) or via the START website.