£2.8m loan paves way for huge ‘Super G’ housing development

Property firm Waystone will receive a £2.8m loan from the public sector to help develop the site, known as “Super G”, between the railway and the M62 at Glasshoughton, Castleford.

It is the latest phase of the redevelopment of the former colliery and coking works which is now home to the Xscape leisure and retail complex.

The money to support the development is coming from the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Waystone chief executive Stuart McLoughlin said the deal would extend a public-private partnership that had lasted 16 years and led to a “transformation” of the area.

HCA area manager Tom Hawley said: “It is great news that the public sector is able to help kick-start the next phase of private sector-driven economic growth at Glasshoughton.

“This area has seen real transformation over the last decade thanks to the public-private partnership with Waystone 32 and our previous investment of £9.6m from the National Coalfields Programme.

“These new jobs and homes will make a real difference to local people and will build upon the 3,800 jobs already created.”

Car supermarket chain Motorpoint has already secured planning permission to open a new outlet on the site covering seven acres.

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey is taking a further 16 acres of land which it will use to build 238 family homes.

The Leeds City Region LEP brings together the area’s councils and business leaders to work together on growing the local economy.

Its chairman, Roger Marsh, said: “Super G demonstrates that funding from the Leeds City Region’s Growing Places Fund is having a direct impact on the city region economy and I am delighted that once again the LEP is supporting new business opportunities.

“Without this funding, it is unlikely this project would be off the ground which highlights the relevance of the LEP to the regional economy and job creation.”

Repayments on the loan to Waystone will be used by the LEP to reinvest in other projects that help create jobs around the region.

The loan deal unlocking the next phase of development at Glasshoughton was announced as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published new figures suggesting the construction market is continuing to grow.

John Templeman, from the Leeds office of property consultants Stace, said: “Land is available for development and redundant buildings are ready to be redeveloped.

“The main issue affecting the use of these resources is the lack of flexibility from local authority planners, who still seem to work to long stop dates. The lack of readily available finance is still an obstacle too.”

In a survey covering the three months to the end of September, the gap between the number of RICS members seeing a growth in privately-funded housing projects in the region and those seeing a fall grew from 30 to 34 percentage points.

Workloads for Yorkshire surveyors grew at their highest rate since the end of 2004 and the survey also showed that a clear majority expect to see jobs growth in the property sector in the next 12 months.

The latest RICS survey was the first to report increased housebuilding in every part of the country for six years.

RICS chief economist Simon Rubinsohn said: “Critically, we’re still way behind in terms of building enough homes to meet the nation’s growing housing need and overall construction projects are at a historical low.

“In the face of this challenge, it is a particularly concerning that we are already receiving reports of some skill shortages as well as capacity constraints for some building materials such as bricks.”

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