Demolition work begins on Shotton Melrose Centre – Public information event being held Monday March 13
Demolition work has begun on a former day care centre in Shotton which will make way for nine new affordable rent houses.
Wates Living Space, the construction company who won a multi-million pound contract from Flintshire County Council to build social housing across the county, was granted planning permission to level the Melrose Centre in December.
Asbestos removal specialists have been working on the site for the past week preparing the building for the main demolition work later this month.
A public information event for local residents to view plans for the site is being held at St Ethelwold’s primary school on Melrose Avenue this coming Monday, March 13 between 3pm and 6pm.
The centre which provided much needed day care services for pensioners and those living with dementia had been boarded up and ‘mothballed’ for nearly two years following closure, it’s since fallen into a state of disrepair and has been a target of thieves and anti social activity more recently.
Six new two storey council homes are to be built on the land including single bedroom apartments alongside two and three bedroom houses all for affordable rent.
The houses form part of Flintshire County Council’s Strategic Housing And Regeneration Programme (SHARP) the affordable housing scheme which will eventually see over 500 new homes built across county by 2021.
Houses built as part of the SHARP scheme so far include 12 Council homes at Custom House School, Connah’s Quay, they were completed in December 2016.
The Walks, Flint with see 92 new homes constructed under the scheme, the council approved a further 40 new Council homes on five sites at Mold, Leeswood and Connah’s Quay last July.
The first new council houses to be built in Wales in over 20 years officially ‘opened’ today
Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will consider the development of the next key stages of the SHARP, including detailed scheme viability works on the new sites identified at its meeting on Tuesday, 14 March.
A range of new sites in urban and rural communities across the county have been identified that could potentially deliver an additional 363 council, affordable rent and affordable purchase homes, giving a total of 507 when combined with those sites already in the programme.
The original target for council housing was to build 200 homes over 5 years; the report identifies the potential for 277.
As well as the Melrose Centre houses new sites include land at;
- the former Youth Centre, Gronant
- Maes Gwern, Mold
- Ffordd Hiraethog, Mostyn
- Llys Alun, Rhydymwyn
- Crib y Gwynt, Trelogan
Flintshire County Council Leader, Councillor Aaron Shotton, said:
I am delighted at the fantastic progress that has already been made in the delivery of the SHARP in such a short space of time. The demand for social and affordable housing in all our communities continues to grow and it is so important that we maintain the considerable momentum already gained in our ambitious plans to address that demand.
The new sites identified across the county are again at the heart of our local communities and will potentially provide further high quality social and affordable housing, help sustain those communities and create employment opportunities.
Cabinet Member for Housing, Councillor Helen Brown, said:
In delivering the Council’s SHARP, it is vital that we recognise the needs and aspirations of our rural and urban communities. These new sites, along with the wonderful progress already made, will allow the Council the scope to do just that and realise its ambitions for social and affordable housing.
Strategic Housing and Regeneration Programme – Batch 3 Proposed Schemes 
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