Go ahead for new 'Craig homes

The site to the west of Prospect Hill Road may have been earmarked for a school at one time, but now it will be a new housing development

Taylor Wimpey West Scotland has been given the go-ahead by North Lanarkshire Council to build 106 new homes on land off Prospect Hill Road.

The 4.7 hectares site is bordered by grassland and roundel access leading from Prospect Hill Road to the south, a disused rail line to the west, Merry Street to the north beyond and Cleekhimin to the east.

A small cluster of industrial units can be found on the north west boundary, with The Raven’s Cliff restaurant/pub approximately 400 metres to the south.

Back in 2014 the council themselves had earmarked the site to construct a new £36m campus if the merger of Our Lady’s High in Motherwell and Taylor High in New Stevenston went ahead.

After this plan was abandoned Taylor Wimpey stepped in as the land is already allocated in the North Lanarkshire Development Plan for residential housing.

The latest development aims to deliver a range of two, three, and four-bedroom houses, plus 10 affordable homes.

Like the restaurant it will be called Raven’s Cliff and feature a neighbourhood square, play areas and landscaping, while a three metre wide foot/cycle path will be formed on the east boundary for future connection to Merry Street.

Taylor Wimpey will make a developer contribution towards the installation of this with the work being carried out by the council’s transportation department.

No objections were received about the application and it passed unanimously.

Stephen Andrew, technical director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, said: “As well as an impressive range of new homes, this development of new homes will provide a range of economic benefits for the local Ravenscraig and Motherwell area which includes supporting over 160 jobs per year of construction, as well as the attraction of new customers to local businesses.

“We believe this development will be a great addition to the local area, as well as complementing our previous successful developments at the Ravenscraig site and others across the region.”

Prior to work starting surveys will be carried out to check if the land needs remediated due to its industrial past and to find out what wildlife is present.