Potential site!

Wow, 4 months since my last post. In the last few months we have been busy searching for a suitable site. Have sifted through hundreds of land sale details, some could be ruled out from the details alone, or a quick look on Google Earth - what a marvellous tool that is, and free too. It showed for instance what looked like a landing strip near one site. A bit of investigation showed that it was a landing strip - for where they manufactured and tested Typhoon fighter jets. Some have got through that filter, and we've been to see a quite a few. A couple turned out to be "greenbelt" with no chance of getting Planning Permission. One site was nice, but had a large power pylon right in the middle of it - and a large sink hole. It was the site of one of Cheshire's salt mines, and I read a fascinating account from about 1910 of how one day a huge hole opened up in the ground and the local brook poured into it. Apparently you could see down about 100 feet before it.

Anyway, I digress.

The potential site we have found, after searching North West wide, turns out to be out 3 miles from where we live! On our own doorstep, as it were. The issue is that it is larger than we wanted, and of course is more expensive than we had bargained for, so now we have to work out how we can earn enough from developments on the land to enable us pay for it, as the nursing home business cannot support loan repayments for the whole site .

The search for a site

Now the really hard part - finding a suitable site. There are so many factors to consider. We've devised a decision matrix, and included the following criteria:

• area (~8ha - apparently a football pitch is 0.8 hectares - so this means 10 football pitches)


• physical geography - shape of site, slope, aspect, drainage, etc


• previous development (was it industrial? are there existing buildings? is there anything we can "reclaim"?)


• accessibility and communication - public transport connections are absolutely crucial if we are to keep our carbon footprint down (or a good cycle path in the unlikely event we can find one anywhere 'round here), access roads, Broadband, etc


• skills proximity - local workforce nearby (who will be using the bus, cycle path, etc as above!). Deep Green aims to upskill people, so the main factor is a local population with a sufficient number of potential care staff who will share the values of Deep Green.


• cost - current ownership has a huge influence here. If public sector, they may be willing to let Deep Green have the land very cheap because of the social capital we will be creating in the area. If a prime site for residential development, the cost could be millions.


• Planning permission - a site which was already deigned as residential in the draft Local Development Framework might be easier than a former industrial or retail area.


• Environmental concerns - a catch-all for "other" such as green belt, site of special scientific interest, potential for wind turbine, contamination and any remediation needed


• Partners - is the local authority supportive? Is there a Registered Social Landlord (RSL) i.e. housing association, covering that area who might be willing to work with us? Is there a regeneration initiative?


• Site history and neighbours - has there been any kind of local protest over the site? is it a site used by travellers? are there problems with community safety, vandalism, theft, hate crime, etc?


• and last, but not least, the aesthetics of the site, does it look attractive? Does it have potential?

So any readers (either of you!) who know of a site we could consider, please let us know.