NHS Tayside is set for a huge financial windfall from the approval of a multi-million-pound 220-home plan for the former Strathmartine Hospital site.
As communities around the sprawling site continue to digest the controversial decision of a special meeting of Angus Council on Thursday which overturned an official refusal recommendation to reject the proposal, delighted developers confirmed the conversion of the B-listed main block into 24 flats will be part of the first phase of the works.
It has also emerged a claw-back clause inserted into the sale deal for the site will see a percentage of income from 180 homes paid to the health authority.
Planning officials had recommended refusal of the Heathfield Ltd proposal for 198 new build homes and 24 flats on the grounds that it breached council policy and was excessive in scale.
But councillors voted 12-9 for the bid against a backdrop of fears that doing nothing would see the site fall into further decay.
Strathmartine Community Council immediately condemned the decision as “profoundly anti-democratic and stunning in its hypocrisy.”
Local councillor Rob Murray had moved refusal of the application, claiming the scale was excessive and would “urbanise” the area.
However, Montrose member Bill Duff successfully led the reversal of the official recommendation.
He said the 40-house allocation was uneconomic for any developer and warned that refusal would leave the old buildings to rot.
Heathfield Ltd will now begin the work of fine- tuning the plan to bring forward detailed proposals to Angus Council, although Scottish ministers must be notified of the decision in light of an official objection from neighbouring Dundee City Council.
The company is not yet in a position to say when the five-year scheme will get under way, but has confirmed that redevelopment of the historical main building will be part of the first phase, along with 63 new build homes.
The following phases will see the construction of 54, 33, 20 and 28 homes respectively, alongside the demolition of various buildings including the Strathmartine nurses’ home and pavilions in the grounds.
“We are very pleased at the decision and delighted that common sense prevailed,” said Heathfield.
The NHS claw-back clause was revealed by Heathfield planning agent Robert Evans to Thursday’s meeting in his explanation to councillors that allowing only 40 local plan-allocated homes on the site would make the project financially unviable.
Heathfield paid around £1.5m for Strathmartine and, with associated project costs including demolition as well as affordable housing and education contributions to the council, Mr Evans said allowing only 40 houses would leave a “significant funding deficit” of at least £6.5m, but possibly as much as £10m.
Mr Evans also confirmed the NHS clause which requires the developer to pay 50% of the uplift value over the number of homes built in excess of the local plan quota.
“We are not sure how much that will be but it would also depend very much on the contribution to education and affordable housing,” he added.
Angus education officials have said a developer contribution of £11,000 per unit will be require to mitigate the impact of additional child number on local primary schools and Forfar Academy, which will be the secondary school for children living there.