Plans for social housing at former Dundee primary school site approved

It is hoped a new housing development planned on the site of a former Dundee primary school will help tackle long waiting lists for social housing.

Planning bosses at Dundee City Council have approved a planning application to build 21 new houses and flats at the former St Vincent Primary School on Pitkerro Road.

The former primary school was demolished in February last year after the school closed and pupils were moved to the new £17 million North-East Campus in Whitfield.

Since the demolition in 2019, the site has lain empty.

But now approval has been given to the plans, submitted by KDM Architects on behalf of Angus Housing Association, which will consist of a mixture of houses and flats built on the site and made available for social rent.

It is hoped this will go some way to meeting the need for more social housing in the area, as the original planning application highlighted 58 people are waiting for a two-bedroom flat and 44 are waiting for a three-bedroom flat in the Mid-Craigie area.

In total, 75% of the homes at this site will have three or more bedrooms, including six four-bedroom homes.

And after a request from Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership, the development will also include a single-storey block of flats designed for tenants with special needs.

On top of this, there will also be car parking, electric car charging points and a bicycle storage area.

Dundee City Council has now told developers they must agree its proposed roads and footpaths prior to any construction work beginning, and said any existing accesses to the site that are no longer required are to be turned into footpaths.

Likewise the council added architects will need to plan its landscaping of the site before starting, including deciding which existing trees, shrubs and hedges need to be removed and which need to be kept, and where the new trees, shrubs, hedges, grassed areas and water features should be placed.

The developers will also need to submit a schedule of planting and green space maintenance to planning bosses, and any trees or shrubs at the site which are removed, die, become severely damaged or seriously diseased within the first five years must be replaced.

The development at the former primary school site must now be started within the next three year.

The housing association was approached for comment.