Council house plans for old Bootle High School

Sefton Council has confirmed plans to develop the former site of Bootle High School and further increase social housing in the borough.

At a cabinet meeting at Bootle Town Hall, members were updated on the council’s plan to re-enter the council house building market. This was a historic moment for the local authority as they had not managed any social housing since 2006 when they approved a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) of their 20,000+ housing stock to One Vision Housing

Bootle High School was located on Browns Lane in Netherton until it closed in 2009 following amalgamation with a newly built Litherland High School. The site has been unused for the past 15 years and the planned scheme would create another eight new affordable social homes for rent. The LDRS understands Sefton Council have no plans in place to develop a housing programme to rival its former portfolio, but they are committed to multiple new projects. Due to an almost 20-year absence in the social housing space, the local authority will adopt a cautious approach and look for development opportunities which fit within their budgetary restraints.

The council has approximately £5m of capital available to fund the acquisition of more social housing as a result of the Right to Buy Receipts Sharing Agreement with One Vision Housing and from commuted sums secured via Section 106 agreements. As a result, the borough will be looking to expand their portfolio in the coming years.

Sefton Council are now registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a social housing provider and have already secured a management agent to deal with the day-to-day operations of their planned schemes – including their Buckley Hill Lane project.

Over the past few years there has been a growing acceptance in central government that councils need to play a greater role in meeting new build housing targets. Although very little additional council housing has been developed in the last 50 years the active participation of local councils acting as developers and landlords is something being actively encouraged. Sefton Council has responded to this expectation through the establishment of Sandway Homes, its wholly owned private housing development company.

Sandway Homes will build the homes at Molyneux Gardens on Buckley Hill Lane in Netherton and the project will include 18 social homes for rent representing the council’s first new housing initiative since 2006. This project was made possible after Sefton had secured preferred partner status with Homes England which allowed them to bid for grant funding.

The council subsequently applied for financial support from Homes England and were awarded over £1m for (1.068) to support the project at Buckley Hill Lane. The approved £1m in funding equates to almost 40% of the total cost of the scheme.

The handover is scheduled for April 2025 and allocation will be managed through Property Pool Plus (PPP) – a platform set up to list available and affordable housing to rent in the areas of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral, Runcorn or Widnes.

Allocation will be determined via the needs-based system already in use on the PPP website. In Sefton, the average waiting time for people bidding for social housing and to secure a property is just over one year.

There are approximately 200 households living in temporary accommodation in the borough, which has a profound impact on the lives of those affected and presents a significant financial cost to the council. The authority hopes the direct provision of social housing will help those who are in desperate need of affordable and stable housing in the borough.

Service Manager for Investment & Housing Services at Sefton Council, Lee Payne said good progress is being made in developing more council housing and pointed to the council’s works plan. This includes the Buckley Hill Lane development but also new projects at the former site of Bootle High School and Benthams Way.

Full details of the new building project at the site have yet to be revealed, but the news represents another indication of Sefton Council’s commitment to create more social housing for their communities.