The image below is of our updated proposals for up to 200 Net Zero Carbon Ready homes, provided alongside new open space with allotments and orchards, new trees and landscaping and biodiversity enhancements south of Rollestone Road in Holbury, as submitted to New Forest District Council. For a PDF version please click here: Submitted Illustrative Masterplan.

We have carried out detailed technical work and assessment of the site in forming these proposals to ensure the development is deliverable. The project team has taken a landscape-led approach for the site. This means that the proposals have been designed with the aim to create an attractive and functional development that has minimal visual impact from the outside, protects nature for future generations, respects the setting of the New Forest National Park and improves on-site biodiversity. The 46 acres of greenspace would be accessible to future and existing residents alike.

Views from the outside would be limited by retaining existing hedgerows and mature trees, adding up to 600 trees across the site and filling gaps in existing hedgerows by planting new native plant species. Creating new woodland would also enhance biodiversity, complemented with species-rich wildflower meadows and ponds. Replicating New Forest habitats with scrubs and woodland would encourage local people to walk in the newly created greenspace rather than in the protected sites in the National Park.

The design is built around social inclusion, healthy lifestyles and wellbeing. A number of pedestrian and cycle links run through the site which have several logical access points that connect well to the local network. The residential area would be providing a mix of homes which respond to local need, with lower heights and density on the southern and western side where the site adjoins the New Forest National Park boundary. In accordance with the climate and nature emergency declared by New Forest District Council, Wates is proposing a sustainable development, using technologies such as solar panels and air source heat pumps, alongside travel initiatives such as a car club and Electric Vehicle charging points.

Planning application

The hybrid planning application comprises the following elements:

• Outline application for the demolition of two residential bungalows and existing farm buildings, the construction of up to 200 homes (including affordable homes) and the creation of a primary new vehicular access onto Rollestone Road (with layout, scale, appearance and landscaping left as reserved matters)
• Full (detailed) application for the provision of public open space and an Area of Natural Recreational Greenspace (ANRG) and the creation of a new pedestrian access onto Rollestone Road

The submitted documentation will become available for public viewing on the Council’s planning portal at https://planning.newforest.gov.uk/online-applications/ when their formal consultation period commences.