Eckington, Worcestershire
Background
This site was initially allocated within the Emerging South Worcestershire Development Plan is allocated for 20 dwellings. The site was acquired in November 2015 with a view to combining this land with other land under the same ownership and to progress discussions with the Neighbourhood Development Plan Group to bring together an improved offer to the local community. An initial application was approved unanimously – just 8 weeks after submission, however there was appetite from all stakeholders to work on a bigger better proposition. This local consultation process culminated in 2 sites coming forwards that will deliver 39 homes catering for a wide variety of needs.
Project Overview
The proposals cater for a broad range of housing markets, which is a principle that the local community have endorsed through the Neighbourhood Plan process ; private housing aimed specifically at keeping the school at maximum capacity, affordable housing, down sizers housing (that will free up larger family homes in the village) and homes that specifically cater for the needs of the retired; including bungalows.
Consultation Process
This site’s planning history meant that there was a considerable amount of consultation information available to digest, analyse and to incorporate into our proposals. Therefore we were able to conduct a very thorough consultation process that involved meetings with the Parish Council, the NDP representatives and various public consultation event.
The consultation events were generally made with the evolution process of the Neighbourhood Plan and were very well attended. This process culminated in a specific public exhibition hosted alongside our proposed developer Spitfire Bespoke Homes. The current application is currently live and in-line with the Neighbourhood Plan Policy.
