Welsh tycoon Gerald Leeke has scuppered plans to build an asylum centre in South Wales by buying a 150-acre hospital site.
The Leeke family, which owns the Leekes retail chain in South Wales and Wiltshire, has bought the 17th-century Hensol Castle and its surrounding redundant hospital buildings in the Vale of Glamorgan countryside for around £5m. The family is in talks with housebuilder Barratt about plans for up to 150 executive-style homes on the site.
Rival bidder the Home Office had planned a controversial 500-place asylum centre.
The Leeke family also owns the adjoining £25m four-star Vale Hotel, Golf and Spa Resort.
Leeke said: “We intend to consult widely with the local planners and other interested parties before submitting our planning proposals, which, through a quality development and a sympathetic mix, will create extra facilities to complement the Vale Hotel.”
Welsh Health Estates, which managed the disposal on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales, said contracts had been exchanged with completion scheduled for next March.
