Following Lightwood’s successful application for a detached two storey building for use as B1 (office), a revised application seeking to convert its use to residential was unanimously supported by Elmbridge Planning Committee. Construction has already begun on the 1500ft² property, which benefits from a 300ft long garden, and is expected to be completed and on the market in the Autumn.
Lightwood has submitted an application for two 4,000ft² luxury homes to the rear of an existing property with an excessively large garden on the Fairmile Estate in Cobham. The precedent of back land development has already been established along Fairmile Lane and therefore the scheme is not out of character with its surroundings.
The Inspectors to the West of England Joint Spatial Strategy published there second detailed post hearings letter, advising the West of England authorities that failings could not be corrected at examination (which had already been suspended to allow further work). The JSP is now being withdrawn and new plan-making process will begin based on higher housing need figures.
Following an Inspector’s letter in June 2018 the North Essex Authorities undertook additional technical work to attempt satisfy his soundness concerns. Lightwood submitted detailed representations of objection on several document including; Additional Sustainability Appraisal, Housing Need, Employment Land, Rapid Transit System, Road Infrastructure Funding and Viability.
Lightwood in conjunction with Hart District Council submitted a bid to join the Government’s Garden Communities programme in November 2018; a programme set up by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to help meet demand for new homes in England.
We are delighted to announce that Shapley Heath Garden Village (at Murrell Green) was one of 19 successful bids to the programme and has been awarded £150,000 in this first year to help develop ‘Shapley Heath Garden Village’ for up to 10,000 homes at Murrell Green and Winchfield.
Lightwood, in collaboration with Gallagher Estates/Barratt Homes:
“This programme is more than about building new homes, it’s about delivering appropriate infrastructure, such as schools, transport, and health and community facilities. The funding and support that we’ll receive as a designated Garden Community will allow a truly locally led approach, developing plans for a new community that is sustainable, beautiful and benefits from the right infrastructure – provided at the right time – together with spaces that promote wellbeing and enhances biodiversity. We still have some way to go with the programme, but this announcement gives us the green light to pursue the creation of a garden community.”
Sandridgebury Farm measures around 66 hectares and lies to the north of St Albans. The core planning strategy is to achieve an allocation in the next review of the Local Plan, beginning in around 5 years’ time. We envisage it being a major part of an urban extension of 2000-2500 homes. The farm is in the Green Belt, but this designation covers all of the local authority area, and it has shown a willingness to alter the Green Belt in the current phase of plan review.
Lightwood have completed the sale of the 60 unit scheme at Thornhill Road, Stalbridge to Sovereign Housing Association. Sovereign are one of the most active developers of all housing associations in the UK, and have a 30-year track record of delivering homes from new-build, conversion and regeneration schemes.
The land is to the east of the A4174 Avon Ring Road and just to the south of Emersons Green and Lyde Green. It is formed of three titles and the three separate landowners are all signatories to a single promotion agreement. A suite of technical studies has been commissioned to prepare a site layout and to establish housing numbers; our estimate is 300+ dwellings.
Lightwood will be making the case for the land to be removed from the Green Belt within the South Gloucestershire Local Plan Review, and will be seeking to influence the examination of the West of England Joint Spatial Plan, which will set the context for South Gloucestershire to 2036. Strategic matters such as the housing requirement, brownfield capacity, and the nature of the planned land supply (e.g. large complex sites versus smaller deliverable locations) will be addressed. Our technical work will promote the sites specific credentials, relative to other locations. Our goal is to have the land released from the Green Belt by 2021.
