Homes shock

A PLAN to demolish the LDS (Ling Dynamics) plant in Royston has been submitted to North Hertfordshire District Council.

The proposal is to use the site in Baldock Road to build homes.

But the company is tight-lipped over the proposals, and refused to answer questions from The Crow about the consequences of the scheme.

Whether it will mean LDS leaving the area, or relocating nearby, is a question left in the balance, as, too, is whether there will be any redundancies.

LDS is one of Royston's longest-serving companies.

One of the proposals - submitted by BBR Architects for developer's Stephen Howard Homes - is to build 65 one and two-bedroom flats, and 22 affordable homes on the site.

A second application has been submitted by McCarthy & Stone for a block of 63 sheltered apartments on the site.

A spokesman for BBR Architects said there have been meetings about the potential of the site between them and the district council.

"We are anticipating some objections," said the spokesman.

"No planning applications are straightforward these days.

There are always people who will object in principle."

The architects' predict that the planning stage will take about four months.

A spokesman for McCarthy & Stone said: "I think we've identified a need for this type of housing in Royston, and from our point of view it is the right thing to do."

He said demand for such accommodation was likely "to outweigh any objections".

Mary Caldwell, the district council's planning control and conservation manager, said the necessary paperwork covering the proposals had gone out to residents around the site.

"We are now in the position of just waiting to see what comes back," she said.

Representations about the schemes have to be submitted to the district council by January 24.

They will be discussed by members of Royston Town Council's planning committee, and a decision will come from the district council's Royston area committee.