AFTER more than 18 months of negotiation, compromise and discussion, the plan to build more than a dozen houses on the site of a former Barrow school has been given the go-ahead.
In October 2015 Barrow businessman John Cooper, who owns JJC Waste Management, applied to redevelop the former Abbotsmead Primary School in Friars Lane.
At a meeting of the Barrow Borough Council planning committee on Tuesday permission was finally granted.
Councillor Ann Thomson, planning committee chairwoman, said the long wait was down to the committee needing a fully fleshed out application from the developer.
She said: "The plans that came in originally weren't good enough. It's taken this long for planning officers to get plans from the developers."
The plan which was approved on Tuesday was for 18 homes to be built on the former school site, accessible from a newly built junction in between Cloisters Avenue and Crozier Close.
Diagrams submitted to the council show the houses will be in three groups of four houses, and one group of five.
Since demolition work took place at the site residents have complained to councillors about the rubble left behind.
Cllr Thomson, who lives locally, said she had been approached on several occasions as to what the council was going to do, to make better use of the site.
She said: "We wanted all the bricks moved, it was dangerous for kids to climb on."
However, she was glad that in light of the planning committee's decision that a derelict piece of land would be going to good use for the people in Risedale, and for Barrow in general.
She said: "It's absolutely positive for residents of the area. They'd be happy to see anything on there, they're fed up of the eyesore."
The Mail approached the developer for a comment on its successful application, but it declined.
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