Housing

• Provide for high quality homes

• Cater for a wide diversity of needs

• Appropriate residential density that varies appropriate to the area

• Future-proof design that embeds adaptability and flexibility into society

• Provision of affordable housing, and elderly accommodation

• Self-build

• Relationship to landform

• Accessibility

• Social sustainability and sense of community

• Homes / buildings compliant with Future Homes Buildings Standards

Energy

• A resilient, adaptable, and highly sustainable energy and carbon strategy.

• Smart-energy capable housing

• Highly efficient building fabric to reduce energy bills

• Extensive use of renewable energy generating technologies across the site such as in the form of Air Source Heat Pumps and/or Solar PV

• Potential deployment of a large solar array that will generate  c.4,930 MWh of clean energy for the grid.

Employment

• Supporting the local economy through the provision of flexible business spaces well connected to sustainable transport

• Provide a diverse range of flexible business spaces that meet local needs

• Employment opportunities for residents

• Employment well-connected and easily accessed by walking/cycling

Active & Sustainable Travel

• Create strong, comprehensive, network of active travel routes to Buntingford

• Convenient access to public transport that integrates with existing routes

• Bridging the gap through potential new pedestrian/ cycling connections across the A10 and A507

• Access to the wider countryside

• Relationship to landform

• Access to local green infrastructure and wider countryside infrastructure

Local Centre

• Provide facilities that complement (not compete) with the existing offer

• Provide key community uses

• Accessibility

• Create a legible new community with civic space at its heart

• Relationship with existing buildings

• Link to schools 

• Sense of community

• Key uses: community/ retail/ education

Green Infrastructure

• New “Buntingford Park” and potential accessible green loop

• Access to wider countryside

• Open space features/ Interconnected “Viewing Points”

• Outdoor leisure provision

• Outdoor sports provision

• Some areas to be “wildlife havens”

• Encourage active lifestyles

• Green infrastructure as a placemaking tool 

Placemaking

• Create a distinct new place shaped by its context

• Adaptable/locally informed placemaking

• Safe, secure and inclusive design

• Spaces to adapt over time

• Design with emphasis on  management not maintenance

• Design with landscape and micro-climate

Community Facilities

• Accessible, safe and convenient for all

• Prioritise sustainable travel

• Provision of flexible spaces

• Provide range of play, sport and  recreation opportunities

• Create a variety of places and  spaces usable throughout the year

• Provide opportunity for social interaction (communal gardens, allotments) and community facilities generating employment

Education

• Provision of a new school

• Link to and relationship with the existing school provision in the wider town

• Integration of sport facilities provision with school

• Building social sustaibility and sense of community

Blue Infrastructure

• A network of sustainable drainage designed with the topography and landscape

• Integration of blue infrastructure in the habitat network 

• Use of water in strategic habitats 

Biodiversity

• Working with site topography and natural features, including existing woodland, hedgerows and watercourses

• Early implementation of on-site initiatives to support Biodiversity Net Gain  

• Create a network of varied and connected habitats

• Integration of nature with development

• Food growing opportunities supporting biodiversity net-gain