Plans submitted for 156 homes off Hordle Lane near primary shool

PLANS for 156 new homes on former greenbelt land close to Hordle Primary School have been handed in to New Forest District Council.

The scheme includes 78 affordable homes, allotments and public recreation space on fields west of Hordle Lane.

Following discussions with NFDC and Hordle Parish Council, developer Bargate Homes scaled back the number of dwellings from an original target of up to 174 homes.

The site is allocated for development in NFDC’s Local Plan, a keystone document which sets out sites for housing outside the national park up to 2036.

The application revealed how the plan was reworked to create more amenity space and a lower density of homes.

Access will be via a single entrance onto Hordle Lane, with an additional access point to serve the new allotments.

Under the plans, the scheme would deliver a mix of one and two-bedroom flats, and two, three and four-bedroom houses, with 354 parking spaces including 15 for visitors.

So far the scheme has attracted 32 objections to NFDC with concerns about traffic, parking, loss of green space and the inability of local services to cope with extra residents.

One objector wrote: “The existing roads are narrow and some cannot be widened. The increased traffic flow, possibly 300 vehicles, will make these more dangerous, particularly going passed the existing primary school.

“There only appears to be one entry/exit to this development which would cause congestion at peak times.”

Another commented: “The school is full to capacity and the parking at school times is ridiculous. Even in our road which is not immediately adjacent to the school we have people parking to go to collect their children. The infrastructure is just not there.”

But the developer said on its website: “Our vision is of an attractive scheme with three different character areas rich in their use of materials and detailing, connected throughout the wider site by a rhythm of materials and facades that articulate and generate a distinct development pattern.”

The proposal also features 14 new allotments, recreational amenity space, play areas and tree and hedge planting.

Bat boxes, bird boxes, hedgerow highways and invertebrate boxes will all be installed as part of a plan to safeguard wildlife.

Affordable homes will make up 50% of the development and will be “pepper-potted” across the development in small clusters, and designed to be indistinguishable from market housing within the streets.

Traditional streets would be formed, said the developer, complemented with mews and courtyard arrangements as well as single-sided roads looking upon verdant edges to the perimeter.

The application set out three character areas for the development: The Lane, The Parkland Edge and Courtyards.

It explained: “A series of key character spaces have been designed to give sense of place, enhance way finding and reflect local distinctiveness and appropriateness to the site.

“A range of parking solutions ensures that the scheme is not dominated by cars through the street scenes.”

NFDC is expected to make a decision after the deadline for public comments on 10th June.