Green light for 38 homes on the site of former Stowmarket Middle School

Plans to build 38 homes on the site of the former Stowmarket Middle School have been given the go-ahead this week.

The scheme, first approved by Mid Suffolk District Council development control committee last September, has now been given the formal go-ahead by the council.

It will see the site in Walnut Tree Walk redeveloped into six one bedroom apartments, eight two-bedroom flats, fourteen two-bedroom houses, eight three-bedroom houses and two four-bedroom houses.

The properties will offer a mix of affordable housing, either as shared ownership, or as social or affordable housing, where rent is calculated below the private market rate to help households on low to moderate incomes.

They are amongst more than 200 homes in Mid Suffolk’s social housing pipeline over the next two years – which form part of a multi-million pound investment by the council in social housing across the district.

Stowmarket Middle School closed in 2015.

Councillor Julie Flatman, cabinet member for communities and housing, said: “When the county moved to a two-tier education system and the school site became redundant, we realised there was an opportunity to buy it as a brownfield site in order to help meet the town’s pressing need for affordable housing.

"I’m delighted that we’re now able to breathe new life into this town centre site and provide more people with a place that they are proud to call home.”

Planners issued the formal decision notice yesterday, with contracts due to be awarded for the work over the next few weeks.