Project Summary
- A high-quality, bespoke residential scheme that put its landscape and ecological context at its heart.
- The site comprised a former productive garden and large paddock to the side and rear of Sandford House.
- An out-of-settlement boundary location, confirmation that North Somerset did not have a five year housing land supply, and demonstration of Sandford’s sustainability credentials.
- The site contained a number of veteran trees, mature hedgerows, a dew pond and an abundance of wildlife.
- The planning process involved a pre app submission supported by a stakeholder consultation event, outline planning permission, two sets of Section 73 permissions amending the original outline permission and subsequent reserved matters and discharge of condition applications.
The Planning Process
The proposal, designed by DHV Architects and Bridges Design Associates, provided a combination of six x 3, 4 and 5 bedroom detached houses in substantial rural plots. Large swathes of the site were incorporated into shared communal woodland and wildlife areas, whilst pedestrian access was provided from the site to an adjacent public footpath. The proposals were accompanied by a significant level of information detailing the site layout, access arrangements, landscape, ecology and biodiversity enhancements, tree planting and drainage engineering works, and supported by Design and Access Statements and landscaping plans. These all underlined the primacy of the landscape and biodiversity assets.
The pre app process established the principle of residential development in an out-of-settlement location. The outline application dealt with matters of scale, layout, access and landscape. Appearance was left until reserved matters. The application covered all ecological, arboricultural, archaeological, drainage and highways issues.
Post the original determination two further Section 73 permissions have been secured that have refined the layout, increased the size of one plot and house, altered some of the garages and parking areas and revised the front boundary landscape details. These were followed by a series of reserved matters permissions and the discharge of conditions.