Housing plan for ski village hit by arson

Landowner Kevin Pullan, a property developer, has yet to submit a planning application but talks are taking place with planning officials.

The ski village was destroyed by fire last year and the site has been blighted by illegal tipping.

Mr Pullan said: “The Ski Village was a great loss to us, but we had 25 years, it’s coming up to the second anniversary of the fire and it is time to look to the future.

“I know people are interested in what is happening with the land.

“There have been a lot of problems and it is an eyesore. We examined all options for the land and this was the only one which had economic merits.

“This is not like a developer coming in and wanting to build on a village green.”

The housing plans are likely to attract some opposition from locals who are campaigning for a country park in the area.

A community group is working with city bosses to transform a landfill site in the middle of Parkwood Springs into an urban oasis when it is decommissioned in 2018.

Neill Schofield, chairman of the Friends of Parkwood Springs, said he would reserve judgement on the ski village housing plans until he had viewed the application.

But he said members of the Friends group would not generally be in favour of building anything on the land.

“If the land keeps getting nibbled away, we might end up with no country park at all,” he said.

He added: “We want the country park to be an asset for the whole city and I’d be surprised if people were in favour of building on that green space.”

The ski village opened in 1988 and pulled in around 180,000 visitors a year in its heyday.

Mr Pullan’s firm bought the facility in 2007.