Lib Dems put plans to dispose of land for £10m veterans village on hold

Thousands of trees have been planted on Garrowby Orchard, which used to house an adult education centre, since residents were invited to take over in 2017.

Their efforts in creating a calm and inviting greenspace in an area of the city with little else in the way of nature, have been so successful it's been shortlisted for a BBC "Make a Difference" award.

However in 2017, local charity Hull 4 Heroes approached Hull Council looking to develop a veterans’ village, following a similar project in Manchester. The then Labour-run council provided a list of sites, and backed the charity when it chose the former adult education site off Coronation Road.

Plans including 48 homes for veterans and their families, community space, a support hub and training facilities were approved three years ago by Hull and East Riding Council. Last month residents became alarmed when they were told the council, which the Lib Dems took over in 2022, was intending selling 5.3 hectares of the land, which is an asset of community value.

Hull Council documents state that a decision was due to be made by the Cabinet on April 24. But this never happened.

Residents also became concerned that the council was exploiting a planning loophole, by not putting a time limit on the completion of a section 106 legal agreement. Once signed the charity has to start work within three years. However Hull Council said: "It is not uncommon for S106 agreements to take a significant period to sign after the committee decision and there are unrelated similar instances."

The day after the Yorkshire Post approached Hull Council with questions, council leader Mike Ross emailed residents saying they’d decided earlier this year to put the proposals on hold.

Coun Ross wrote: “The previous administration had committed this land to that project. The Lib Dem-led Cabinet is therefore faced with a complex situation – and one not of our making.

"The conflict between the Veterans’ Village scheme and the Friends of Garrowby Orchard (FOGO) could have been avoided if the previous administration had listened to residents’ views sooner.”

They are looking at holding talks between the parties to explore if there’s any scope for a “mutually agreeable” way to proceed, and if not alternative sites could be explored.

The Lib Dems also stated that Hull 4 Heroes "legitimately felt they had the green light for the whole project” and added the charity “have put many years of work into developing a scheme they really care about and are passionate about delivering”. They’d asked the council to investigate “viable alternative” sites.

A Lib Dem spokesman said: “We have never supported developing a veterans village on this site and Lib Dem councillors for the area have always made that clear.”

Paul Collinson, from FOGO, said: “This is an essential resource and cannot be replaced.”

Hull 4 Heroes was approached for comment.