Homes plan for former Willenhall schools
Two former school sites in Willenhall are poised to be sold and could be transformed into housing developments, new plans reveal.
Lakeside Junior School and Clothier Street Junior Schools have been demolished and the sites are to be sold by Walsall Council to fund other education projects.
It has now emerged that an undisclosed proposed buyer has been lined up and wants to submit a bid to the Homes and Communities Agency for grant funding to build affordable homes.
Officers say it would help address the known need for housing in the borough.
In a report, which is expected to be discussed at a Walsall Council cabinet meeting on Wednesday, valuation surveyor Nick Ford said: "The proposed purchaser is submitting a bid to the Homes and Communities Agency for grant funding.
"The bid will be strengthened if the purchaser is able to submit named sites within their bid as this provides HCA with additional certainty that the allocated funding will be drawn down.
"Accordingly, the purchaser has approached the council to negotiate the purchase of the two sites."
It said that terms have been agreed 'in principle' for the sale of the two sites.
It would be subject to detailed planning consent, site investigations and consent by the Secretary of State. The report states that the authority has no alternative use for the sites and they have been declared 'surplus to the council's requirements'.
It said the council's external valuer, Lambert Smith Hampton, has certified that the agreed prices represent market value.
Cabinet chiefs will be asked to approve the sales to a named party and to delegate authority for the approval of terms to the executive director for regeneration and the portfolio holder for regeneration and transport.
