Lucy’s plan resurfaces

Lucy's have come up with slightly revised plans for the redevelopment of the Eagle Iron Works site for housing and offices.This is their third proposal in recent years. The first kept the facade of the factory and used one of the existing blocks of flats in Castle Mill House as their contribution to social housing. This received outline planning permission in 2003. Then, having teamed up with Berkeley Homes, they came up with a new plan that involved demolishing the factory completely and having all the social housing within the new development. The planning officers, however, expressed concern about the scale of the development and the low contribution of social housing and faced with a likely rejection Lucy's withdrew this proposal. Having made minor modifications, which included increasing the proportion of social housing from 30% to 35%, they re-presented the plans. This time the planning officers seem satisfied, but councillors at both the Area Committees have recommended rejection, for a number of reasons including the still low proportion of social housing and the height of the buildings which will create a 'canyon effect' along the canal. The final decision will be taken by the Strategic Development Control Committee on May 26th.