Handy for High Street pub

 

The latest multi-million plan to develop the old garage next to the Royal Oak pub was unveiled at a Nailsea Town Council meeting on Wednesday night, February 17.

And the plan is not to demolish the building but convert it into 10 two-storey three bed homes with studio and office units underneath.

But this isn’t the first time someone has put forward proposals for the disused commercial building which has stood empty for decades.

From a new garage with cone-shaped car sales showroom to an indoor market with cafe and museum there have been many residential and commercial schemes for the site dubbed ‘gateway to Nailsea’.

Way back In the 1860s history records more than 500 people attended village concerts in the building that once housed French kilns and gas-fired furnaces for the Glassworks and in the 1980s The Wurzels packed out the place for a 1st Nailsea Scouts fundraising gig.

Last year Hobbs Properties put the freehold of the huge disused stone built ‘shed’ and surrounding land up for sale with a price tag of £250,000.

Although it would like to buy Youth House at 65 High Street the Nailsea Town Council passed on the opportunity to own the property next to its own green space.

And now established North Somerset house builders Rollo Homes who are currently developing the old furniture shop Challicoms at Hill Road, Clevedon, into residential apartments want to do something similar at the Nailsea site.

 

Royal Oak garage

 

Rollo Homes directors Shaun Thomas, of Chelvey, and Paul O’Brien, of Wraxall, are the brains behind the project which will sit next to the newly transformed Teletubbies-style park at the end of the High Street.

Planning and development consultant Kit Stokes, of Aspect360, said his company would be submitting a planning application to North Somerset Council at the beginning of March and if approved hope to start building on the brown field site by midsummer.

Mr Stokes told the council that the Royal Oak garage was ‘an important but not beautiful’ building which would be retained and act as a ‘sleeve’ for the new development.

The asbestos sheet roof would be replaced by a new slate roof , the homes would have patio gardens and there would be 20 car parking spaces, he said.

Mr Stokes said: “There is a noisy venue next door but my clients have purchased the site with the intention of retaining the building and converting it into 10 family homes with some commercial space abutting the High Street.”

They would be using the same architects O’Leary Goss who had designed the market scheme but spurred on by the successful off-plan sale of the Four Oak school homes have come up with the more mixed development.

But councillor Mary Ponsonby voiced concerns about chemical contamination of the land caused by its industrial past.

She said that substances including cyanide and asbestos had been removed from the parkland next door.

Mr Stokes said: “The intention is to retain the floor slab and to have minimal excavation to protect the archaeological resources that are in the ground. 

“There will need to be a remediation strategy to address any contamination which may mean capping the car park area.”

A preference for starter homes was voiced at the meeting together with fears about other dangerous substances lurk beneath.

Builders aren’t going to dig the dirt and plop homes on top, said Mr Stokes.

Councillor Rod Lees said: “Ascetically it looks quite impressive, I quite like it but as a development I think it is terribly wrong for the area.

“These are not downsizing houses – what we want in the centre of town is some starter homes, some bistros, one and two-bed units.”

Neil Middleton said: “The idea for it being three storey with lots of stairs isn’t for people downsizing.”

Mr Stokes said: “I’ll take back that the town council would rather have 25 starter homes.”

While the garage is excluded from the scheduling under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 the ground is included and excavations in 2008 revealed remains from the glassworks and the alkali chemical works.

STOP PRESS: Nailsea Town Council clerk Ian Morrell said: "The only decision the town council has made about Youth House is that it wants to pursue the option of buying it. We have agreed in principle with North Somerset Council that a valuation by the district valuer will be made and hopefully following that we will be able to agree a price. We are also looking to get a structural survey done so we understand what issues may need to be addressed to ensure the building is in a good condition."