Plans lodged to demolish Leigh Park site and build five-storey block of 78 flats

AN HISTORIC milk delivery depot could soon make way for a five-storey apartment block.
The Dairy Crest site in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which has been earmarked for development in a new planning application. Picture: Ian HargreavesThe Dairy Crest site in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which has been earmarked for development in a new planning application. Picture: Ian Hargreaves
The Dairy Crest site in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which has been earmarked for development in a new planning application. Picture: Ian Hargreaves

It comes after an outline planning application was submitted to convert the former Dairy Crest site in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park. 

As part of the plans the brownfield site and the Co-operative Funeralcare next door would make way for a proposed 42 one-bedroom and 36 two-bedroom flats or maisonettes. 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

No specification for the affordability of the proposed properties has been outlined, but agent JLL has said it would '˜welcome the opportunity' to discuss types of tenure with Havant Borough Council on behalf of the applicants, The Southern Co-operative.

The branch of Co-operative Funeralcare in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which would be demolished and moved if a build on the former Dairy Crest site goes ahead. Picture: Ian HargreavesThe branch of Co-operative Funeralcare in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which would be demolished and moved if a build on the former Dairy Crest site goes ahead. Picture: Ian Hargreaves
The branch of Co-operative Funeralcare in Dunsbury Way, Leigh Park, which would be demolished and moved if a build on the former Dairy Crest site goes ahead. Picture: Ian Hargreaves

The plans have been hailed '˜exciting' and '˜promising' by Warren Park councillor Beryl Francis. 

'˜Havant has nearly 2,000 people seeking social housing on Hampshire Home Choice but the chances of many of them finding somewhere in the near future are low '“ this is dreadful,' she said. 

'˜I would like to see most of the flats let out for a rent that is reasonable for local people to afford.' 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She added: '˜The area is good '“ near the shops, the community centre and not far from the schools and the bus route.

'˜Let us hope that, if planning permission is given, the builders get on with the job quickly.

This project is needed and construction might well take a couple of years.' 

The outline application is currently expected to be subject to a delegated decision '“ meaning it could potentially be decided by a senior Havant planning officer. 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

JLL said residents of '˜well over 200 properties' within a 100m radius of the development site had been consulted on the plans, but it received no responses. 

Tricia Banachowicz is the secretary of the Leigh Park Working Men's Club, which sits opposite the Dairy Crest depot. 

'˜It is an eyesore and it is a site that needs developing one way or another,' she said. 

'˜Any form of housing that could increase our membership can only be good.' 

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The application for the development states residents of the potential flats would be able to access the block via Fulflood Road. 

A spokesman for JLL said: '˜In essence, the site is within the ownership of the applicant and comprises a number of elements.

'˜The current industrial element has been unoccupied for some time and is not fit for purpose, as such the applicant has chosen to seek to redevelop the site with the provision of a residential scheme comprising up to 78 units.

'˜The scheme offers the council the opportunity to address housing need and to bring a currently underutilised site back into operation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

'˜The site is within a highly sustainable location and will be of a similar scale to the development opposite on the junction with Dunsbury Way and Bramdean Drive.' 

Councillors have the power to '˜red card' planning applications, which can see them debated before Havant Borough Council's Development Management Committee.Â