I am pleased to say, after 21 months in planning, the planning committee has voted to approve (subject to 106 agreement) 17 new dwellings on a rural exception site in the Forest of Dean.
The site seemed fairly straightforward at the beginning. It had been put forward by the council and after several consultations was considered to be a great site for 100% affordable housing. However, the site was more tightly constrained than we realised at first. Additional surveys were requested to support the scheme which highlighted a few key items to be considered further. Following lengthy discussions with the planning officers and resultant design changes, we have achieved a widely supported scheme.
One challenge was ecology. After undertaking additional ecological over a larger range of time, one dormouse was found on the site. We had already been designing with ecology in mind, which led to a design set away from the root protection zones of the surrounding trees and hedgerows. The introduction of a 2m ecology buffer zone was incorporated to protect the dormouse whilst allowing the site to remain mainly the same.
Biodiversity net gain also became a big issue as we were having to remove some hedgerows to create an entrance to the site. Grassland was also lost to the dwellings and hardstanding. After several design revisions and calculations, the solution was to reduce the scheme from 18 to 17 units. With the extra space we were able to introduce a small orchard to the entrance and a range of planting throughout the site, particularly in the new play space.
The scheme boasts a mixture of materials, sizes, accessibility provision and house types to reflect the various typologies and needs of the village. Although it’s only a small site, affordable housing is desperately needed and will be a great addition to the village. We were so pleased to give the positive news to our client Two Rivers Housing, who are very happy indeed!
