Paul Hill
Senior Director - Planning (Midlands)
Strategic Development Plan Allocation and Outline Planning Permission at Bishopton Lane
RPS secured a Strategic Development Plan Allocation and an Outline Planning Permission on behalf of Taylor Wimpey and Miller Homes Ltd for 500 dwellings to the North of Stratford on a 25-hectare greenfield site.
Key details
Project name
Bishopton Lane
Client
- Taylor Wimpey
- Miller Homes
Location
Stratford-upon-Avon
Services provided
- Planning
Challenge
From a planning perspective, the principal challenge related to the Council’s hostility to the site and greenfield expansion of the historic town of Stratford. This resulted in the council submitting its Core Strategy to the Planning Inspectorate without the allocation of the site.
Solution
Our team engaged extensively and gave evidence during all the stages of the Core Strategy Examination in 2015 and 2016. This included sessions relating to housing growth, spatial strategy, sustainability appraisal and competing sites. The result of the process led the Planning Inspector to declare the Plan unsound without an increased housing requirement, a greater concentration at Stratford, removal of other greenfield sites and the allocation via the modification process of the Bishopton Lane site for 500 dwellings. We successfully defended the site allocation during the re-convened Examination sessions in 2016.
Following the site’s allocation, we coordinated and acted as lead consultant for the preparation and submission in 2016 of a planning application for 500 dwellings and other uses on the site. The S106 was signed and planning permission issued in Spring 2017. We have subsequently gained reserved matters approval for the first phases of housing development.
Key contacts