A £200 million plan to regenerate an area of Derby city centre has been given a boost after a church within the development site was given permission to relocate.
This summer, developer St James Securities lodged plans with Derby City Council to regenerate the Becketwell area of the city centre, building hundreds of apartments, as well as offices and retail units.
The development site includes Victoria House, on the corner of Becketwell Lane and Victoria Street, which is currently occupied by the Central United Reformed Church.
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The building was recently sold to Derby City Council to help pave the way for the Becketwell scheme, which meant the church needed to find a new home.
Now, with the help of St James Securities, the church has been granted planning permission to move to a new home in Green Lane after the authority approved a change of use of part of Stuart House from office use to a place of worship.
John Brebner, regeneration project leader at the Central United Reformed Church, said: “We are keen to support the much-needed regeneration of this part of the city centre and are satisfied that our relocation will enable us to meet the needs of our congregation and the very important community services it offers.
“Thanks go out to St James Securities for their support in helping us to secure planning permission for change of use to our new home at Stuart House.”
If given the go-ahead, the Becketwell regeneration scheme would be built over a number of phases.
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Phase one would comprise of 342 build-to-rent apartments on the site of the former Debenhams store in Victoria Street and a new public square on the site of the current Central United Reformed Church.
The application is supported by a request to include a range of other complementary uses of the site, including up to 25,000 sq metres of grade A offices, an innovation centre and leisure to complement the residential and a planned multi-storey car park, with a smaller courtyard public square called Summerhill Yard to reflect that part of the site’s historic street name.
Paul Morris, director at St James Securities, said: “The granting of planning permission for change of use at Stuart House is a very important step forward which will allow us to move forward with our plans to revitalise the Becketwell area.
“Our thanks go out to the United Reformed Church for their dedication and hard work which has resulted in their move to fantastic new premises, much better suited to the church’s community-focused activities fit for the 21st century.
“We hope the church will continue to prosper in its new home and will continue to serve the community as it has for many years.”
Residents, business owners and key stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on the Becketwell scheme ahead of a planning decision.
Demolition work of the former Debenhams building started last month and is set to be completed in May 2020. If given the green light, construction work on the first phase of Becketwell will start in 2020.