Old School Site

Statement from Flintshire County Council

re: Old School Site, Penyffordd – 8th November 2023

 I refer to your email yesterday and the request for a statement from the Council about its intentions with regard to the former Penyffordd School site for tonight’s meeting of your Community Council.

I think the first thing to say is that we are delighted to be working with you to develop plans for the site. It has been, and will continue to be our intention to consult and collaborate with you as we progress our ideas for social housing on part of the school site.  As already discussed in principal, a portion of the site will be transferred to the Community Council for community use. We are very interested in how the Community Council plans develop as I hope and intend that the designs can complement each other.

The exact amount and configuration of the land which will be transferred and the legal manner of the transfer will be determined in due course as the development plans emerge in detail and approvals such as planning permission are sought. Our initial drawings were based on the current school building and yard footprint which yielded around 20 new homes.  This outline was only ever intended as indicative of what might be possible with regard to numbers of dwellings. Following discussion with members from the Community Council on site, we are now examining a broader east-west division of the land to determine how that might accommodate 20 or so homes. Naturally once these options are further developed we will continue to consult with the Community Council.

During our meeting on the site I was asked as to whether private homes for sale were planned on the development. I advised that we had no plans to do this, rather our intention is to develop social rented and affordable housing. Demand for good quality, secure and affordable homes is high in both Flintshire and Penyffordd.  I also explained that we would be analysing use of existing council stock in the village to help refine the mix of dwellings we plan to develop.

We hope to be in the position to sign contracts this week to commence the demolition of the school buildings and infrastructure.  We intend to start on site before Christmas carrying out the removal of asbestos with the main demolition works starting in the new year. We believe that these demolition and site clearance works will be contained within the existing hardstanding area of the site, and should not impact on any land to be transferred to the Community Council at a later date.

It is difficult to be precise as to how long it will take to start on site with the main development itself, as there is still much to be explored and agreed, but our wish would be to begin the formal planning process by the summer/autumn of 2024. 

As stated above, we remain committed to consulting and working with the Community Council to develop these proposals.

Kindest regards

Paul Calland BA. MCIH, AITG

Rheolwr Rhaglan Strategol DeparuTai │ Strategic Housing & Delivery Programme Manager

Cyngor Sir y Fflint | Flintshire County Council