PLANS have been submitted to build a large new residential development with up to 60 houses on green fields next to Whitminster Playing Field and Pavilion.
Developer Robert Hitchens Limited has launched a planning application with Stroud District Council for the homes, roads, open spaces and ponds off School Lane.
If given the green light, the new-build near Whitminster C Of E Primary School would add a large chunk of housing to the north west of the village.
The 2.8 hectares of agricultural land are currently used for farming and lies close to Highfield, Schoolfield Close and Holbury Crescent.
This is the second attempt on build on the land after proposals for up to 95 houses were rejected by the council in December 2014.
After consultations with the council, the masterplan has been reduced in scale, footpaths have been retained and a new plans for a SUDS pond and larger green areas have been included.
Plans include four areas of housing of “varying sizes, tenures and household types” for an estimated 138 new residents, as well as parking spaces and garages.
Planning statements say the development will provide a “hierarchy of dwellings from large detached properties with larger plots through to smaller terraced forms”.
Thirty per cent of the new houses would be classed as “affordable”, including affordable rented, shared ownership and low cost market housing.
There would also be some four bedroom detached houses for sale. A new curving access road would be built to adjoin School Lane.
The public footpath currently running through the site has been retained and new footpath links would be provided, while on its northern point the developers would create a new SUDS pond.
Similarly to the Eco Park development in nearby Eastington, the hedgerows on the land are used be Lesser Horseshoe and Greater Horseshoe bats for foraging and navigation.
Therefore Robert Hitchens has proposed a sensitive lighting regime will ensure dark corridors are retained for bats, particularly along the western boundary hedgerows.
It would also plant new trees and a new SUDS pond within the new areas of open space top try and provide new foraging opportunities for bats, as well as install bat boxes for roosting. Surveys found the site had a very low risk of flooding.
In a planning statement by Pegasus Group on behalf of the developer said: “The proposed development will create housing choice and new amenity spaces for the existing and new community of Whitminster whilst improving public access across the site and to the wider pedestrian network.
“The masterplan is founded on the best practice in urban design, community integration and sustainable development, with strong links to the wider area. It aims to create a development for the 21st Century, whilst reflecting the desirable elements of the local vernacular.
In this context, the development will respect the local character but also move the community towards a more sustainable future, through a significant increase in housing choice. Development will accord with the principles of high quality design and best practice to create a townscape that is varied and sympathetic to its environment.
“The aim must be to achieve a development with a strong identity and distinct sense of place whilst at the same time integrating with the existing community.”
To view the plans for yourself visit SDC’s planning website and search reference S.17/0563/OUT
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