The future's bright for Rugby's Biart Place

Biart Place in June 2009. Google Street View.

For that’s when the borough council's plans for a new social housing development at Biart Place go to its own planning committee meeting – with the unsurprising news the plan has been recommended for approval.

The Advertiser reported in March that the application had been submitted and features 100 new homes for social rent, with 60 one and two-bedroomed flats, 20 maisonettes and 20 two, three and four-bedroomed houses.

A spokesperson said: “In addition to car parking and landscaping, the planning application contains commitments to sustainable design and construction, including the installation of electric vehicle charging points, solar panels and air source heat pumps.

Biart Place from the South Street entrance in August 2022. Photo: Google Street View.

"The homes have also been designed to complement the Victorian-era housing on Clifton Road and surrounding streets.”

The application is on the agenda for the planning committee when it meets at 5.30pm tomorrow, Wednesday, July 19, in the council chamber at Rugby town hall.

Members of the public can attend in person or watch a livestream.

Councillors first approved plans to develop the site five years ago after structural surveys revealed both of Biart's tower blocks - which totalled 124 one and two-bedroomed flats - were beyond economic repair.

Biart Place, also from the South Street access, in October 2012. Photo: Google Street View.

The plans have secured a £6.8 million grant from Homes England's Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026, funding which means all of the development's homes can be allocated for social housing.

A further £2 million was awarded from the Government's Getting Building Fund, which contributed towards the deconstruction of the tower blocks and clearance of the site.

Should the committee approve the application, work looks set to start on site by the end of the year, with the work scheduled for completion in 2026.

The full report to the meeting is available on the council’s website and highlights a stand-off between the council and University Hospital Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

The latter put in a request for £179,777 to help it cope with the new patients arising from the development but the council rejects this, saying that as there will be fewer residents than before it ‘would impact less on services’.

The council has made the trust aware of its position but at the time the report was prepared no response had been received.