Lucy’s forges ahead

Lucy’s now has two major new housing developments in the pipeline. The smaller of the two, which has now received planning permission, will use the land currently occupied by the garages in Cranham Terrace to build 5 two-bedroom town houses. There were strong objections to this from neighbours in Juxon Street who did not want people living so close to their gardens. To get round this the first floor windows in the development will be glazed with obscured glass. Building is unlikely to start soon, however, since the work has only just been put out to tender. The larger development involves the current factory site along with the car park on the other side of the canal with around 160 new houses or flats. Planning permission here is still pending, and hinges on the Council’s requirement that at least 30% of new developments should consist of more affordable housing. The current plan is to upgrade the oldest block of Castle Mill House off Mount Street, and use this as part of the ‘social housing’ contribution.