Plans for a permanent ice rink in
A deal to sell council land at St Mary’s Road to social housing developer Lovell has fallen through.
Southampton council decided to sell the land to Lovell following a bidding process last year, with plans for 66 low cost and rental apartments to be built on the site.
However, after a year of negotiation, the developer has decided to walk away from the site, saying the scheme “doesn’t fit with our long-term business strategy”.
Plans are now to be put forward by private developer Colin Warburg for an £80m scheme comprising a 28-storey residential tower and an Olympic-sized ice rink.
Warburg had put the plans forward to the council when the site was originally tendered, but lost out to Lovell.
He said the collapse of the affordable housing scheme would “give the opportunity for the councillors to see the further benefit of the ice rink complex and reconsider the considerable value it brings to the city”.
Campaigners have been calling for a new ice rink complex in the city since the
