South Godstone (South) Feasibility Report
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GodstoneSouth Garden Village Feasibility Report December 2016 BONNAR ALLAN South Godstone Garden Village Technical Statement - Feasibility Bonnar Allan 29 December 2016 15242/MS/RC Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners 14 Regent's Wharf All Saints Street London N1 9RL nlpplanning.com This document is formatted for double sided printing. © Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd 2016. Trading as Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners. All Rights Reserved. Registered Office: 14 Regent's Wharf All Saints Street London N1 9RL All plans within this document produced by NLP are based upon Ordnance Survey mapping with the permission of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. © Crown Copyright reserved. Licence number AL50684A South Godstone Garden Village : Technical Statement - Feasibility Contents 1.0 Introduction 1 Report Structure ............................................................................................... 1 2.0 Delivering Infrastructure and Overcoming Constraints 2 Transport ......................................................................................................... 2 Utilities ............................................................................................................. 3 Social Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 4 Landscape and Visual Impact .......................................................................... 5 Agricultural Land Grade ................................................................................... 5 Woodland and Protected Trees ........................................................................ 5 Flood Zone ....................................................................................................... 6 Contamination and Ground Conditions ............................................................ 6 Heritage ........................................................................................................... 6 Summary ......................................................................................................... 6 3.0 Deliverability 8 4.0 Conclusions 9 12990073v2 South Godstone Garden Village : Technical Statement - Feasibility Appendices Appendix 1 Stilwell Partnership: Technical Transport Scoping Report 12990073v2 South Godstone Garden Village : Technical Statement - Feasibility 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This Feasibility Report (“the report”) has been prepared by Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners (“NLP”) on behalf of Bonnar Allan. It provides initial evidence on the deliverability and viability of the proposed South Godstone Garden Village development. The report provides a strategic overview of the infrastructure and mitigation works necessary to deliver the development, showing how barriers to development can be overcome (and the costs of doing so). The report draws on technical evidence in relation to impacts of the proposed scheme and the proposed mitigation measures to be put in place. The report should be read in conjunction with the Vision document (including an illustrative masterplan) and alongside the technical transport evidence provided by Stilwell’s in the appended note (Appendix 1). 1.2 The report is a high level appraisal of the scheme as currently proposed. It should be explicitly noted that as the masterplan develops and there becomes more certainty on design and specification for all aspects of the development, then the appraisal will need to be revisited. It provides a snapshot-in-time assessment based upon currently available information and is intended to evidence the deliverability of the scheme through the early stages of the Tandridge Local Plan process. Report Structure 1.3 The report is structured as follows: Section 2 sets out both the planning and infrastructure constraints to development as well as the mitigation measures to overcome them; this section emphasises the deliverability of the South Godstone Garden Village scheme; Section 3 includes a breakdown of the infrastructure costs associated with the development and mitigation required. The section shows that these costs are fully accounted for within a high level appraisal of the viability of the scheme; and Section 4 draws together the findings of the previous two sections to conclude upon the deliverability of the South Godstone Garden Village scheme. 12990073v2 P1 South Godstone Garden Village : Technical Statement - Feasibility 2.0 Delivering Infrastructure and Overcoming Constraints 2.1 The Vision document sets out the strategic rationale for the Garden Village and an illustrative land use masterplan showing the current expectations for the scale and form of development. This vision will evolve in response to ongoing engagement with the Council, the local community and other stakeholders. 2.2 Based on the work to date, this feasibility report brings together all of the identified constraints and infrastructure requirements of the South Godstone Garden Village development – as currently understood - to demonstrate how they can all be overcome, and the development delivered, without any substantial adverse impacts. The evidence in this assessment seeks to demonstrate that there are no ‘show-stopper’ factors that would ultimately prevent development from occurring if the South Godstone Garden Village proposal were to be allocated through the emerging Tandridge Local Plan. 2.3 In respect of infrastructure provision, Tandridge District Council has a Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) 123 List (July 2014), however for obvious reasons it does not have specific reference to development in South Godstone and will become out-of-date in the context of the new Local Plan with a development strategy that seeks to meet Objectively Assessed Need in the District and an associated new Infrastructure Delivery Plan. As such, although it is known that CIL and/or s.106 payments will have to be made as part of this development coming forward, it cannot be confirmed at this stage where these will be applicable for each of the relevant infrastructure types. 2.4 At this stage, it has been assumed that appropriate CIL payments will be made alongside the delivery of this scheme, although their exact cost will be confirmed once more scheme details are available and in consultation with the Council. It may be that, as the Local Plan progresses and infrastructure needs are refined, a revised CIL charging schedule will be introduced and a specific provision be made for an extended settlement at South Godstone. In a number of locations elsewhere, large-scale developments are ‘zero-rated’ for CIL in recognition that infrastructure requirements are best made through s.106 agreements. Bonnar Allan would look to discuss with the Council to identify the most appropriate method. At this stage, based on applying current CIL levels and likely infrastructure costs, there is no reason to believe this is a barrier to development, given the Gross Development Value of the scheme, as shown in in Table 3.1. Transport 2.5 The technical transport scoping report from Stilwell Partnership concludes that the South Godstone Garden Village site is in a highly sustainable location, due to its proximity to a mainline railway station and the frequent bus services available, with opportunities for further improvements available. Due to the P2 12990073v2 South Godstone Garden Village : Technical Statement - Feasibility site’s location in the London commuter belt and close to Gatwick airport, it is considered that there will be no one major concentration of trips in any specific direction. 2.6 At this stage, it is considered that off-site improvements, which subject to a detailed study and assessment could include things like new roundabouts, junction capacity and train station improvements, could total approximately £15million. The inclusion of a Travel Plan Framework (TPF) to encourage more sustainable transport use and a Construction Management Plan to minimise the impact of construction traffic will also form part of a planning application for the site. Therefore transport will not impact negatively on the delivery of the development, particularly as the adequate funding for this will be made available through S106 contributions or S78 works. Utilities 2.7 At this stage, no other utility constraints have been identified in terms of serving the development. Bonnar Allan is committed to ensuring that the site will have access to all the necessary utilities including water, gas, electricity and superfast broadband. The analysis below focuses upon two specific aspects that can in other situations cause barriers to development. Wastewater Treatment Capacity 2.8 It has been established that the site is served by Southern Water for sewerage services. Tandridge District Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan (November 2015) states that: ‘Southern Water has confirmed that it is likely that investment will be required to deliver additional wastewater treatment capacity to serve new development in the District. This is planned and funded through the water industry’s price review process (carried out every 5 years) and delivered in parallel with development. Therefore the timing and location of the additional capacity is dependent on precisely when and where new development is to be built.’ (Paragraph 11.8) 2.9 Bonnar Allan will discuss specific requirements with Southern Water as the scheme progresses, but at this stage there are no in-principle barriers to meeting wastewater treatment requirements for the site. Gas Pipeline 2.10 There is no evidence high