Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne Masterplan and Phasing Report Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne Executive Summary As part of the South Staffordshire District Council Local Plan review Apt Group are representing clients promoting ‘Land to the North of Pool House Road’ Wombourne. The site presents an excellent opportunity to grow the village in a sustainable and balanced manner whilst addressing both a large brownfield site which is available for development and building on the potential of land already safeguarded in that area. This document builds on the original site submission as part of the ‘Call for Sites’ which was undertaken in late 2018. The masterplan for the site clearly demonstrates that the site works much better as a whole rather than its constituent parts and represents a once in a lifetime opportunity to strategically plan for sustainable development. Planning strategically for housing growth will help meet the future needs of South Staffordshire. The site can be broken down into 3 distinct phases two of which are brownfield parcels of land and the other ‘greenfield’ site consists of a former landfill site. Linking the 3 sites together provides for a greater critical mass helping to secure a range of onsite and offsite infrastructure benefits that meet the objective of the Council’s Local Plan Review without overloading the area with an unsustainable level of development. To support the demonstration of the deliverability of the site, in advance of the ‘Strategic Spatial Strategy & Infrastructure’ consultation in Autumn 2019, investigations into key areas including highways, drainage, geotechnical (ground conditions) and ecology related to the site have been undertaken and inform the content of this document. There are no overriding physical, environmental or technical constraints affecting site delivery. The site is suitable, available and achievable for development during the lifetime of the new plan period. As the site progresses through the allocations process further work will be undertaken to support the adoption of this site in the final iteration of the Local Plan review. This document establishes a vision for sustainable growth in Wombourne and sets out the suitability, availability and achievability of development at this location which is summarised as: Suitable – the site would contribute to overall housing needs by providing a mix of housing types, tenures and sizes at a scale proportionate with the role and function of Wombourne. Together with bringing forward the adjacent safeguarded land, the proposal would rebalance the distribution of development across Wombourne; a comprehensive masterplan-led development would bring forward housing, infrastructure and open space. Available – the landowner(s) are willing sellers and have indicated support for release of the whole site from the West Midland Green Belt; there are no known legal or ownership issues that preclude the whole site’s development during the Local Plan period; neither are there any significant overriding physical or technical constraints preventing future delivery. Achievable – the whole site could be comprehensively developed with a quantum of development that would deliver benefits by retaining and enhancing green infrastructure, together with site remediation and socio-economic benefits in terms of housing provision and infrastructure contributions. 2 Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne Contents 1. Introduction 2. Site Location 3. Site Constraints 4. Site Description 5. Proximity to Local Services 6. Housing Requirement and Site Yield 7. Vision and Masterplan 8. Site Phasing 9. Onsite Infrastructure 10. Highways 11. Drainage 12. Geotechnical 13. Ecology 14. Alternative Sites 15. Performance Against Green Belt Objectives 16. Conclusions 17. Emerging Spatial Housing Strategy & Infrastructure Delivery Consultation 18. Annexes Annex A. Drainage Note Annex B. Geotechnical Note Annex C. Ecology Note Annex D. Site Masterplan Annex E. Performance Against Green Belt Objectives 3 Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne 1. Introduction 1.1. South Staffordshire Council is reviewing its local plan. The review will consider the strategy and policies in both the core strategy and site allocations documents, updating evidence where necessary and setting out how much development is required in the district up until 2037. As part of this review new and/or amended policies will be proposed along with new residential and employment site allocations. 1.2. The Council’s Local Development Scheme (April 2019) sets out a broad timetable for key stages in preparing the local plan. The stages and dates are summarised in the following table. Table 1. Timetable for Local Plan Review Stage Dates Issues and options consultation October – November 2018. Complete Strategic spatial strategy & infrastructure delivery Autumn 2019 consultation Preferred spatial strategy and sites Spring 2020 Publication plan Winter 2020-21 Submission of local plan Autumn 2021 Local plan examination Winter 2021-22 Local plan adoption Summer 2022 1.3. The Council consulted on issues and options for the local plan review in October 2018. This was the first stage of the local plan review and identified planning issues facing South Staffordshire. The document also set out a range of options for future development. Five housing growth options were proposed and they ranged from 5,130 dwellings (270 per annum) to 25,130 dwellings (1,323 per annum) for the plan period 2018-37. 1.4. South Staffordshire Council consider that a minimum 9,130 dwellings (481 per annum) would be a proportionate contribution towards its own housing needs and also providing an element of unmet need from the wider Greater Birmingham Housing Market Area. This option is one of many and a decision has not been made on a preferred level of growth. Should the Greater Birmingham housing shortfall be reduced, the contribution from South Staffordshire to the housing market area shortfall would also be proportionally reduced. 1.5. Six spatial options for distributing housing growth are presented in the issues and options consultation. They comprise various combinations of housing growth including urban extensions, village growth, intensification of development within existing village boundaries and new settlements. The options are not mutually exclusive and a combination of options could be the most sustainable solution. 4 Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne 1.6. Consultation responses from the issues and options stage are available on the Council’s website. A summary of responses will be published later in the year. The Council has not made any decisions on which growth option, or combination of options, to take forward in the local plan review. 1.7. The next stage in the local plan review is to consult on the overall strategy and broad locations for future development, including infrastructure delivery requirements. Consultation on the strategic spatial strategy and infrastructure delivery is scheduled for autumn 2019. Consultation on the preferred strategy for development will follow in spring 2020. 1.8. Given the identified need for housing growth, the Council launched a call for sites exercise to identify land which could be developed for housing and economic uses. Portions of the land north of Pool House Road were submitted for consideration in 2018 (site references 310, 311 and 458). A Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA) was published later in 2018 and sets out a broad assessment of each site’s suitability, availability and achievability, in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The submitted portions of the Pool House Road site were considered potentially suitable but subject to policy constraints at present, namely the Green Belt designation. 1.9. This document expands on the previous call for sites submission and summarises the land north of Pool House Road’s suitability, availability and achievability for future development. 1.10. A summary of the emerging Spatial Housing Strategy & Infrastructure Delivery consultation is included in section 17 of this document. The proposed consultation documents have been made available on the Council’s website prior to review by Scrutiny Committee on the 10 October 2019. 2. Site Location 2.1. The site is located to the west of the village of Wombourne in South Staffordshire which itself is to the west of the Black Country, separated from the conurbation area by Green Belt land. 2.2. Wombourne has a population of around 14,000 (2011 Census) with the village being evenly split by the former railway line, now the South Staffordshire Railway Walk, which runs north to south. To the west of the line the majority of existing development is to the south west of the village. Further development in this area is likely to create an imbalance in the urban form of the village with additional residential areas being further from services and facilities. 5 Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne PLAN 1 - LOCATION PLAN OF SITE 2.3. The proposed development site is made up of 3x parcels of land. These are: Copart Land North of Pool House Road Smestow Brook Industrial Estate 6 Masterplan and Phasing Report Land at Pool House Road, Wombourne 2.4. The Copart and Smestow Brook portions of the site are accessed off the B4176 Bridgnorth Road and the Land North of Pool House Road is accessed from a point midway along Pool House Road. The site is within the West Midlands Green Belt, this includes the brownfield parcels of the site. 2.5. There are three existing safeguarded development sites which adjoin Pool House Road, these are located to the south of the proposed site allocation. The three sites were safeguarded in the Council’s Site Allocations Document (site references 285, 459 and 415) and removed from the West Midlands Green Belt. Future access to the Land North of Pool House Road is through the larger of the three development plots and land has been retained within the control of the site promoter for this purpose.