THE future of infamous Stroud eyesore Tricorn House is set to change once more as frustration over inaction on the site builds.

Situated just off the Cainscross roundabout, the building has been vacant for nearly two decades, with the last real update on its development announced more than a year ago.

In March last year, the SNJ revealed plans by Oxfordshire Estates to turn the former Department of Health and Social Security building into 60 assisted living flats.

Care home assistants would also live on site.

Stroud District Council granted permission for the plans in an eager bid to see the site regenerated.

However, plans are now underway to turn the site, built in 1972, into flats for the open market.

Developers, headed by corporate jet operator Dustin Dryden, hope to get these new plans moving as soon as possible.

“We are heading the way of residential flats now, the only thing holding us back at the moment is planning sufficient land for parking on the site,” said Mr Dryden.

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“To its credit Stroud District Council has been very helpful and are working with us, and so are the highways department at Gloucestershire County Council.

“We would hope to have those plans finalised in the next three or four weeks.

“Ideally we would have been building eight months ago,” Mr Dryden joked.

“I think most people would agree that anything that is done with the site is better than what it is now.

“If planning gets approved and we can finalised plans we could be building in three-to-six months’ time but that is of course way
down the line.”

One of the three Stroud district councillors for Cainscross, Rachel Curley, had voiced her frustrations at the lack of action.

“I am disappointed that there has been no movement over the past few months.

"It is high time something was done to develop
the building and put it to good use,” said Cllr Curley (Lab, Cainscross).

As it stands, Tricorn House is one the district’s most notorious eyesores.

Windows have been smashed, doors boarded up, boundary walls vandalised, graffiti sprayed on the building and ivy now obscures large sections of its exterior.

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Above - The exterior of Tricorn House has grown increasingly more dilapidated. Photo by Carl Hewlett/Stand Out Studio

Cllr Jenny Miles (Lab, Cainscross) said that she has hope for the site.

“While I am very, very frustrated I believe there is progress in the wind,” she said.

“There has been some action within the last year and I now believe that it will not be assisted living flats but open market flats.”