Social housing planned on former high school site

A social housing development is to be built on a former high school site in a town, a council has said.

Sefton Council members were updated at a cabinet meeting at Bootle Town Hall that the authority planned to re-enter the council house building market.

Developer Sandway Homes, which is council-owned- will build the properties in Netherton where Bootle High School was located until it closed in 2009.

The project, at Molyneux Gardens on Buckley Hill Lane in Netherton, will include 18 social homes.

The council has not managed any social housing since 2006, when it transferred more than 20,000 homes to One Vision Housing.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands Sefton Council had no plans in place to develop a housing programme to rival its former portfolio, but it had committed to multiple new projects.

The council has approximately £5m of capital available to fund more social housing as a result of the Right to Buy Receipts Sharing Agreement with One Vision Housing, the LDRS said.

Sefton Council is now registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a social housing provider and has secured a management agent to deal with the day-to-day operations of their planned schemes.

Lee Payne of Sefton Council's investment & housing services said "good progress" was being made in developing more council housing in the borough.

Bootle High School was located on Browns Lane in Netherton until it closed in 2009 and was left idle for 15 years.