Update on Cooper Tires land sale – deadline for bids extended

THE deadline for potential buyers of the Cooper Tires land to submit their bids has been extended until Friday 23rd February. 

The site closed in December last year after being a key part of Melksham’s workforce and history for 132 years. 

Potential buyers of the land were invited to submit a first rounds of bids in January, with a decision about the sale to be made at the end of February. Now, the real estate company managing the sale, Cushman & Wakefield, say the bid deadline has been extended due to additional technical information released to bidders. 

Two sites

The Cooper Tires factory site comprises 30 acres of brownfield land west of the River Avon. This includes a Grade II listed building, Avon House, which has undergone a heritage report.   

Opposite, on the east side of the river, 38.5 acres of greenfield land is available which runs along the river Avon and either side of Murray Walk and borders Forest Road, River Mead School and King George V Park. 

An indicative masterplan, prepared by Chapman Taylor Architects, shows the former factory brownfield site is capable of 495 dwellings and 87,500 square ft of commercial space, with 128 possible residential dwellings on the greenfield site.  

But the greenfield site is not allocated for housing in either the Melksham Neighbourhood Plan or the Wiltshire Council Local Plan and a local community group, Melksham Green Space, wants the greenfield site to be saved for the town. 

Local Plans

The site is a key element in the town’s joint Neighbourhood Plan and in the plan, it says any development of the land, “will breathe new life into the historic factory site to create a new riverside quarter that will deliver new modern employment space, opportunities for riverside cultural and leisure uses, as well as new homes, including affordable homes, to meet local housing needs.” 

Local leaders have said that the former factory site provides a prime opportunity to re-shape Melksham’s future in a key part of the town. Suggestions have included providing an attractive riverside development of housing, leisure activities, employment space, retail and green spaces.   

Cushman & Wakefield say that the development is an opportunity for a buyer to deliver a mixed-use scheme of housing and commercial space. They say the landowner’s preference is to sell the site unconditionally as a whole, but they will consider selling separate parts.