Cash-strapped council confirms plan to cut numbers of homes in Sheerwater scheme from 1,142 to 472
Woking councillors have approved recommendations to finish a 1,142-home regeneration project prematurely.
It will seek an additional £57.7m in government funding to finish already phases under construction, but will then bring the regeneration project to an end, with 472 homes delivered.
The five recommendations put forward by council-appointed consultancy Avison Young were approved by council committee members at Thursday evening’s council meeting.
Woking Council issued a section 114 notice in July this year, signalling that it would be unable to balance its budget in the next financial year and putting a stop to all unessential spending. This put an end to the development agreement between the council and ThamesWey, the developer of the £492 million regeneration scheme.
The project had been set to deliver 1,142 homes, it will now deliver a total of 472 homes.
The recommendations included finishing Yellow, Red and Copper phases of the development, which will deliver 380 homes. The 380 homes, in addition to the 92 homes built during purple phase will be sold off, along with the surrounding land.
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Copper and Red phases are due to complete this year and the Yellow phase is due to complete in late 2024
The council has approved the recommendation to retain and refurbish the 106 existing homes on the Sheerwater Regeneration site.
The estimated cost of works will be £2.9m.
The money for these works will be obtained from capital receipts, land transfers and the sale of land occupied by the old blocks of flats.
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