Recon.

One of the areas that comes to mind as being an unused a vast tract of unused land in the city is that which can be found at All Saints Road area of Leicester.  Despite what Google Maps Satellite image (Figure 1)shows, this whole area consists of derelict or demolished buildings.


View All Saints Road Area in a larger map (Figure 1)

As can be seen from the map and outlined area, this area covers approx. 250m x 150m of inner city land that is currently siting unused.

This might not sound like a great deal of space, but when you see pictures of the size of area, it soon becomes apparent that this space could be used for lots of housing.

After speaking to some gentlemen who work in mechanics garages in the arches under the old railway viaduct, they suggested student accommodation and professional apartment are to be constructed on the site.

The gentlemen also informed me that the Westbridge Wharf apartment block (Figure 2) that had been built on part of the site in question sat with many of the apartments empty or given over to social housing.

Figure 2

Looking at Figure 1, you can see that the area of land in question covers approximately that similar to Tudor Road to the east, Vernon Street to the north Tyrell Street to the west and Bosworth Street to the south, just west of the Alexander Road area, over the River Soar.  The area consists of high density two bedroom terrace housing, perfect for supporting families or young professionals.  In an approximation of the size of the Alexander Road area, there are about 400 homes in this similar area.  From walking around this area, less than 1% of the homes are currently sat empty.

So, rather than building housing on the edge of the city and eating into green field areas, there is potential here to build useful housing that could accommodate many families and young professionals, without having to construct tower blocks of apartments that aren't used.