Rutland Council is to vote next week on whether to accept an offer of nearly £30million of government cash to support the redevelopment of St George's Barracks.

As reported by Nub News, the council was offered the money in November 2019 to help build essential infrastructure on the North Luffensham site.

Next week, the council's Cabinet will meet on Tuesday (8 March) to debate whether to recommend Homes England's Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) to the Council.

Elected members are to consider whether to accept the offer of funding from the Housing Infrastructure Fund as part of the Full Council meeting on Monday 22 March 2021.

Rutland County Council submitted its application for HIF funding in February 2019, based on the latest Evolving Masterplan for the St. George's site.

In January 2020, with the details of some of the terms and conditions for the HIF grant still to be confirmed by Homes England, Councillors voted unanimously to defer their decision.

The Housing Infrastructure Fund is a government capital grant programme, which provides funding for new physical infrastructure to unlock housing and support the construction of 100,000 new homes in England. Only local authorities are eligible to apply for HIF Funding.

The Homes England grant offer to Rutland County Council of £29.4million, if accepted, would be allocated to support community infrastructure, such as local road improvements, utilities, and a new school in line with the submission version of the Local Plan.

St. George's Barracks is due to close in 2022, prompting joint proposals by the Ministry of Defence and Rutland County Council for a new Garden Community that would include up to 2,215 new houses, together with a further 30 possible houses on the site of the current Edith Weston School.

The development will consist of affordable homes for young people, space for new businesses, shops, sports facilities, a new primary school, healthcare facilities and a country park.

The meeting is being held by Zoom and members of the public can download the papers and access the meeting here.