Land South of Station Road, Stalbridge 01 BACKGROUND Introduction Gladman Developments Ltd have successfully invested in communities throughout the UK over the past 30 years, developing high quality and sustainable residential, commercial and industrial schemes. These consultation boards illustrate our emerging outline proposals for a new residential development located at Land South of Station Road, Stalbridge. SOUTH SOMERSET DISTRICT STATION ROAD NORTH DORSET DISTRICT CHURCH HILL SITE Station Road Business/ Site Boundary A357 Industrial Park Permitted Planning Applications Planning Application - Awaiting Decision STALBRIDGE Stalbridge Village Conservation Area Site Location Plan The Site The Need for Housing The Site lies adjacent to the north eastern edge of Stalbridge, a small town in the Blackmore To support the Government’s objective of significantly boosting the supply of homes, Vale area, within the administrative district of Dorset. Stalbridge lies approximately 10km it is important that a sufficient amount and variety of land can come forward where it (6.5 miles) to the south of the A303, the main trunk road connecting Basingstoke and the is needed. The Council has a demonstrable need for more housing, and additional M3 to the east and Exeter in the west. The settlement of Stalbridge is centred equidistant deliverable sites are required by National Policy. between the larger settlements of Shaftesbury and Yeovil, with Shaftesbury approximately 14km (9 miles) to the east and Yeovil 18.5km (11.5 miles) to the west. The Site is located approximately 650m to the east of the centre of the town. The Application To the north east of the Site is a small site that forms part of Gray’s Farm, which is currently Gladman Developments Ltd intend to submit an outline application to Dorset being promoted for the development of a new scheme for six new dwellings and the Council later this year for up to 130 dwellings on the Land South of Station Road, conversion of existing farm buildings into ten new residential dwellings. The application is Stalbridge. The application will establish the principles of development and currently awaiting decision with Dorset Council. determine the access arrangements. New housing will be set within robust green infrastructure to deliver the following: A Sustainable Location • 130 new homes of varying sizes, types and tenures, of which 40% will be affordable housing in line with the Council’s policies. The Site is located in a sustainable location, within a 10 minute walking distance of the centre of Stalbridge, which offers local services and facilities, such as an independent • Vehicular access will be taken from Station Road, with opportunity for family run supermarket, convenience store, a Post Office, a nursery, a primary school, two pedestrian and cycle links along Station Road. churches, a hairdressers, a public house and a number of take-away establishments. • Retention of the vast majority of the trees, hedgerows and landscape features Stalbridge is well served by a number of bus services, notably the number X10 and 58A, across the Site and its boundaries. which together provide connections to a number of surrounding settlements in the local • New publicly accessible, attractively landscaped open spaces, including the area, including Sturminster Newton, Yeovil and Wincanton. These destinations also provide provision of new recreational routes, areas of public open space set within services further afield. The closest bus stop is located approximately 500m to the west, green corridors, located adjacent to the Site boundary, as well as an equipped along Jarvis Way, which is currently accessed along Station Road. This bus stop provides children’s play area. a regular service to the centre of Stalbridge and is also served by route X10 and 58A. The Sustainable Drainage System features will be located at the lowest part of the nearest railway station is located at Templecombe, 6 miles (3.7 km) to the north of the Site. • Site and will help manage the flow of surface water during periods of heavy Further railway stations are located at Gillingham (7.1 miles/11.6km) to the north east and and persistent rainfall. Yeovil in the west (10.35 miles/16.6km). These railway station offer wider opportunities for travel, employment and recreation. Land South of Station Road, Stalbridge 02 HISTORIC CONTEXT Historic Development Stalbridge sits within the Blackmore Vale, which is hisorically renowed for agriculture. Stalbridge was once connected to Bath in the north and Bournemouth in the south by the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. This line was used for freight and local passenger traffic and provided weekend holiday traffic to the south coast. The line was closed in 1966. The 1885-1890 map shows how the settlement of Stalbridge developed along the main thoroughfare through the town, along Church Hill, High Street and Thornhill Road, as well as nucleating at the junction with Station Road and Barrow Hill. The historic core of Stalbridge is a designated Conservation Area and contains 48 Listed Buildings, including two Grade II* Listings. The 1962 map shows how the urban form of Stalbridge changed little over the 72 years between 1888 and 1962, with only small areas of infill development occurring within the existing extent of the town. An industrial area can be seen with larger units present along Station Road, where Stalbridge Station was once located. New development is noticeable to the south of the settlement along Thornhill Road. The 1983 map and modern-day map illustrate the growth of the surrounding area over the last 135 years. The most significant change to the local area, both to the physical environment and economically, was the closure of the railway line. Today the route of the railway line forms part of the Stalbridge Trailway, a designated Public Bridleway. Station Road Business and Industrial Park continued to grow, with a new site opening to the south of Station Road. Stalbridge’s growth has continued to reflect its historic pattern, developing mainly to the east and west along the main thoroughfare, bound to the east by the route of the original railway line. A large housing development centred around Jarvis Way can be seen to the west of Site 2, with further 21st Century development at Springfields. Infill development can also be seen throughout the central parts of the settlement, with additional growth along and around Barrow Hill. 12 pt SITE SITE 1888 - 1890 1962 SITE SITE 1983 Present Day Somerset & Dorset Site Boundary Development growth Approved Planning Applications Joint Railway Land South of Station Road, Stalbridge 03 THE SITE The Site, together with the surrounding landscape, is broadly characteristic of the respective Blackmore Vale and The Vale of Wardour, which are located on the north eastern extent of Stalbridge. The Site is an irregular shaped parcel of land to the south of Station Road, used for the grazing of cattle. This Site is not publicly accessible, however Public Footpath N51/23 N51/74 runs partly parallel to its western boundary. There are no internal landscape N51/24 features of note within the Site. The northern boundary is defined by a mature well maintained hedgerow which runs adjacent to Station Road, with two agricultural N51/20 STATION ROAD N51/31 gates along it. Its eastern boundary is defined by another mature hedgerow with a number of good quality oak trees within the boundary vegetation. A derelict brick built 1 2 agricultural building, associated with an adjacent property, can be seen in the north N51/74 SITE 3 eastern corner, with the southern boundary defined by mature scrub and hedgerow vegetation. The southern half of the western boundary is defined by dense scrub and JARVIS WAY tree planting, with the Public Footpath and industrial estate further to the west. An 4 area of overgrown grassland, bound by a post and wire fence, indents the Site along Station Road Business/ the northern part of the western boundary, beyond which is a small industrial unit Public Footpaths Industrial Park (incl. PF Numbers) along Station Road. MAP SHOWING SITE BOUNDARIES & PHOTO LOCATIONS Station Road Hedgerow along Station Road Agricultural field access Southern Site boundary 1 View looking east along Station Road, at the mature hedgerow an existing agricultural access into the Site. Factory units, within Station Road Western Site boundary Southern Site boundary Industrial/Business Park 2 View looking south from the agricultural access along Station Road. Factory units within Station Road Industrial/Business Park Properties along Jarvis Way Hedgerow along Station Road 3 View looking west across the Site, towards Station Road Industrial/Business Park, with Stalbridge town beyond. Land South of Station Road, Stalbridge 04 EXISTING LOCAL CHARACTER Landscape and Visual Environment Natural England has produced profiles for England’s National Character Areas (‘NCAs’). The Site and land surrounding Stalbridge are located within NCA 133: Blackmore Vale and the Vale of Wardour, which includes both the large expanse of lowland clay vale and the Upper Greensand terraces and hills that mark the southern, eastern and north eastern edges of the NCA. Steeped in a long history of pastoral agriculture, the Blackmore Vale, within which the Site is located, is characterised by hedged fields with an abundance of hedgerow trees, many of them veteran. This is an area of productive pastureland that is often waterlogged, crossed by streams and several rivers that leave the NCA at all points of the compass. The Site is not covered by any statutory or non-statutory designations for landscape or heritage character or quality. The Site is not publicly accessible, however, Public Bridleway N51/74, the Stalbridge Trailway, runs along its southwestern boundary. The Site is relatively low lying and flat, at approximately 60 metres Above Ordnance Datum (AOD). The topography of the surrounding landscape varies, rising to the west to form the limestone ridge whose east facing slopes accommodate the town of Stalbridge, and falling to the east, to the floodplains of the River Stour beyond a low ridge at Shipney Lane.