Land east of The Meadows,
Old Stratford
Public consultation
We are pleased to welcome you to this consultation website. We want to inform the local community about our emerging proposals for an affordable residential development on the land east of The Meadows, off Deanshanger Road, Old Stratford. This webpage provided details for a local consultation in September 2022.
Please see below for latest updates.
Update 05/01/23
Planning Application Submitted
Following the local consultation in September 2022, we have now submitted a detailed planning application to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC). This detailed planning application consists of a full suite of documentation and plans that are viewable on the Council’s public access. WNC will now run their own consultation where you will have a further opportunity to comment.
To view the application details and submission documents on the Council’s website, please click on the link below and type in the planning application reference number WNS/2023/0011/MAF snc.planning-register.co.uk.
A Statement of Community Involvement has been produced which summarises feedback from the local consultation and provides responses. This is found in Section 6 of the Planning Statement. The results of the consultation are also published in Appendix 2 of the same document.
Update 20/09/22
Our online consultation has now closed. Thankyou for your responses.
We will now collate these and identify common themes to aid the preparation of a planning application. There will be a further chance to provide feedback when the application is submitted to West Northamptonshire Council.
We intend to update this webpage at key milestones in the project, so do check back if you have an interest in the project.
Who we are
RO Land is a land promotion business that works on behalf of land owners to create residential and commercial sites. We are part of the RO Group, a family-owned property, and investment company, which has been in business for 90 years.
We have partnered with Accent Housing, a national housing association, that will buy, develop and manage the site on behalf of the residents. Accent has been providing and managing homes across the country since 1966 and currently manages over 20,000 homes on behalf of 35,000 residents.
RO Land and Accent are supported by a team of experienced professional consultants including:
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Planning - David Lock Associates
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Architecture - DT Architects
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Flooding & drainage - EAS
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Transport - EAS
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Landscape - ES Landscape Planning
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Ecology - Applied Ecology
Our vision
We want to create a high-quality development aimed at younger people and families who have been priced out of the market.
We want the development to integrate with the neighbouring houses on River View and The Meadows and fit with the character of the village. The houses will be built to the highest modern standards of energy efficiency and sustainability. We want to minimise energy consumption and waste from building and reduce energy usage and costs for the future residents.
Part of the site joins the Great Ouse and looks out over Tombs Meadow. This land is currently in private ownership but would be offered to The Parks Trust (who manage many of Milton Keynes' linear parks, green spaces and woodlands) to manage it on behalf of the public. The ecological value of the land can be enhanced along with the creation of a new publicly accessible nature area.
Affordable Housing
Sense of place & character
Integration with existing village
High design standards
Environmentally friendly construction
New open space
Ecological improvements
What are we proposing?
The houses will range from three-bedroom detached family houses to one-bedroom maisonettes and bungalows. Around half the homes will be built to “Lifetime Homes” standards which allow built-in flexibility to adapt them easily for wheelchair use or for those with reduced mobility.
The proposal is for an affordable housing scheme comprised of 50% shared ownership property and 50% affordable rented property. More details on these tenures is included below.
Our masterplan shows 32 homes, to be built on approximately two and a half acres of land. This is neighboured by The Meadows and River View to the west and the rear gardens of the houses on Manorfields Road to the north.
A further two and a half acres of land overlooking the Great Ouse river corridor will be offered to The Parks Trust to own and manage on behalf of the public in perpetuity. This will enable public access to the river corridor. Active management will increase this land’s biodiversity and ecological value. The existing public right of way will be retained and additional access will be provided.
Road access will be from both River View and The Meadows, creating a loop between the two. This will be built to adoptable highways standards.
Rainwater will drain into a sustainable drainage pond which will then discharge water into the Ouse at a controlled speed. This has been designed to ensure the development will not increase flood risk. The drainage pond will double up as an attractive landscape feature and also has substantial wildlife benefits.
The houses will be built using Modern Methods of Construction. They will be timber-framed buildings with walls built of highly insulated panels and then finished in brick. The houses, including the timber frames, panels, windows and insulation, will be made in a specialist factory in Walsall and then delivered to the site where they will be built.
The main benefits of this method of construction over traditional buildings are:
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Highly energy efficient buildings which save energy and money for residents.
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Minimal construction material waste and reduced carbon emissions during the build.
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Faster construction time leading to less impact on surrounding residents during construction phase.
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Reduced number of different trades required on site, resulting in less construction traffic than a traditional build.
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Lower long term maintenance costs for both Accent and home-owners.
Before & After
Before
After
Before
The need for affordable homes
Over the last 20 years, home ownership has increasingly become unaffordable for first time buyers. According to recent research by the Halifax, the average first time buyer in the UK is now 32 *.
Publicly available data from the ONS states that median house prices in West Northamptonshire increased by 117% between 2003 and 2021, but incomes only increased by 37%. This means that the average house price to earnings ratio increased from 6 times to 9 1/2 times. A ratio of 3 is considered to indicate a healthy housing market.
The average house price in West Northamptonshire in 2021 was £250,000, meaning that a first time buyer would need to save £41,250 for a 15% deposit.
Additionally, West Northamptonshire Council have a shortfall of affordable housing across the authority area. The latest assessment and local housing needs indicate that a minimum of 183 new affordable homes are required per year.
The Council have advised that there are currently 35 households already on the Housing Register who would be willing to be housed in Old Stratford, demonstrating a considerable local need.
* https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/media/press-releases/2022/halifax/halifax-first-time-buyer-review-2021.html
Shared Ownership and Affordable Rented options.
We believe everyone deserves an affordable home.
Shared Ownership is an alternative homeownership scheme that gives those who meet certain criteria, the opportunity to purchase part of a new build property. They would typically buy between 25% and 75% but this could be as low as 10%.
Purchasers would pay a mortgage on the share that they own, and a below-market-value rent to Accent on the remainder, along with any service charge and ground rent. As the purchaser only needs a mortgage for the share they own, the amount of money required for a deposit is often much lower compared to purchasing a property outright.
An owner would have the ability to increase their ownership share by buying out Accent.
An Affordable Rented property is owned by a Housing Association and rented at least 20% below local market rents. By making renting cheaper, it allows for residents to save towards a deposit for their house.
More information can be found on Accent’s website:
What will the impact on local services be?
We recognise that new development creates a demand for local services including, places at schools and doctors’ appointments and additional traffic on the roads.
Improvements to public infrastructure will be paid through the Community Infrastructure Levy, a way of collecting financial contributions from developers via a legal agreement with West Northamptonshire Council.
Planning Policy
Pre-application discussions have been undertaken with West Northamptonshire Council and planning officers have indicated that an affordable scheme on this site in line with planning policy.
The scheme is compliant with the South Northamptonshire Local Plan and National Planning Policy, which both support the development of Entry Level Exception Sites.
Biodiversity
We have carried out an ecological appraisal on the site which found that the current unmanaged grassland’s biodiversity value was low. It identified that the hedgerows and trees were of high ecological value and should be retained and protected where practical to do so.
There is an opportunity to enhance the site’s biodiversity value. We are proposing to:
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Maintain and enhance existing boundary hedgerows
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Protect existing trees during construction
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Plant new trees within the development site.
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Plant new native shrubs.
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Install bat and bird boxes
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Install ‘hedgehog highways’ – special gaps under garden fences to allow the safe travel of hedgehogs and other small mammals through the site.
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Improve the new nature area next to the river by managing it as a traditional hay meadow, with light grazing by cattle after the hay crop has been taken, which will reduce soil nutrient levels and create suitable conditions for wildflowers
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Ensure that external lighting is designed to be bat-friendly.
With these measures in place, our ecologist quantifies that the site would achieve a net gain in biodiversity of over 9% across the site.
Footpaths
The public right of way that runs from Manorfields Road south through the site will be unaffected by the proposed development and will sit within the open space being offered to The Parks Trust. New pavements through the development will connect River View and The Meadows to this footpath.
New accessible nature area
Additional land to the east of the site, adjacent to the river would be established as a nature area and made accessible by the public. This previously private land would be offered to The Parks Trust who will manage and maintain it for public access in balance with improving it for biodiversity. The land would be established as a quite riverside meadow, with mown paths for the public to use and enjoy the area whilst avoiding disturbance of wildlife. This would provide a quiet and enclosed green space visually separate from village but easily accessible for residents. Management of the land would include hay cutting and light grazing by cattle, which is the traditional way floodplain meadows are managed and which will lead to an increase in biodiversity.
The Parks Trust also own the adjacent land to the south of this field, as well as on the other side of the river at Tombs Meadow.
Road Access and Highway Safety
We have commissioned specialist highways consultants to design the road access for the site and ensure that the proposal is safe. They have taken pre-application advice from West Northamptonshire Council who supported accessing the development through both The Meadows and River View.
Our consultants expect an additional 16 vehicle movements in the morning peak hour and 15 in the afternoon peak hour. This level of additional traffic generation is unlikely to have a noticeable impact on the wider local highway network in Old Stratford.
The development includes onsite parking for each house and additional visitor parking spaces.
Each house will have a secure and covered cycle storage space to encourage cycling and they will all be built so that electric car charging points can easily be installed by occupiers.
There are bus stops on Deanshanger Road and on Towcester Road enabling access by public transport to Central Milton Keynes, Buckingham and Towcester.
Flooding and drainage
Part of the site, the area of open space, is within the flood plain of the Great Ouse and this will not contain any development. All the houses will be built outside of the flood plain and will not be at risk of flooding.
We have appointed specialist drainage engineers to ensure that the rate of surface water drainage into the Great Ouse is not increased as a result of the development. Where possible we are proposing to use permeable hard surfaces and excess surface water will be captured by a sustainable drainage system which will hold it in an attenuation pond and discharge it into the River at a controlled rate.
Landscape (updated 08.09.2022)
The landscape enhancements for the development is designed to provide a rich and diverse flora framework that connects the existing mature eastern boundaries flora/fauna into the site through to newly planted tree lined corridors. Specific robust species have been selected to reflect the soil and site conditions to ensure plant health and longevity, whilst taking into consideration the longtime growth characteristics over the coming years.
Dry meadow mix
Wetland meadow mix
Tree and shrub planting will be used to supplement and enhance existing planting throughout the site and provide a buffer along the southern boundary. A new tree lined avenue along with shrub planting connects with the existing street planting. Scattered semi-native and ornamental trees provide structure through the site, softens the built form and provides opportunities for nature.
Next steps
Thank you for taking the time to review the consultation document.
We will review all comments received and, where possible, these will be considered and used to inform a planning application submission. Once the planning application is submitted, there will be a further chance to comment on the application, directly to West Northamptonshire Council.
RO Land
Graham House
7 Wyllyotts Place
Potters Bar
Herts EN6 2JD