A disused block of flats in Beymont Leys – that has stood empty for over seven years – is to be demolished to make way for new affordable housing and help to address Leicester’s current ‘housing crisis’
The Leys building, in Beaumont Leys, was bought by Leicester City Council in 2019 with the intention of refurbishing it and bring back into use, after it has stood empty for over two years.
Picture credit: Google Maps
The seven-storey building in Upper Temple Walk is currently in a state of disrepair and with the opportunity to acquire adjoining vacant land at John Calvert Court, the council is now planning to demolish the building and develop a new council housing scheme. The proposed scheme would deliver up to 52 new affordable homes and include a toddler playground for use by the wider community.
The council originally purchased The Leys building for £1.2milllion. The anticipated costs of the proposed new affordable housing scheme – including demolition costs of about £800,000 – is £15.5million. This would be funded using receipts from the sale of council properties under the Government’s Right to Buy scheme.
Deputy city mayor Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, who leads on housing said: “Leicester continues to face a housing crisis and it essential we do everything we can to address the growing demand for high-quality affordable housing in the city.
“By acquiring more land and preparing this site for new homes, we can increase our stock of council housing and build high quality, affordable homes that meet the needs of local people as well as providing a boost to the local area.
“There is no doubt that the Right to Buy scheme has hit the supply of council housing hard. It is essential that we invest whatever proceeds we can back into ambitious schemes like this that will help address the urgent need for more affordable homes in our city.”
If given the go-ahead, demolition of The Leys is expected to take place in 2025.
A competitive tendering process will then get underway to find a development partner to design and build the new affordable homes, subject to planning permission.
In September 2022, Leicester City Council declared a housing crisis highlighting the shortage of social housing across the city. The Leicester Housing Needs Assessment 2022 identified a need for around an extra 15,500 affordable properties over the period of 2020-36. To help address this, the council has an ambitious target of achieving an additional 1,500 new council, social and extra care/supported living homes by 2027.
