FAQs | Buntingford Parkside

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The Proposals

The site is located to the West of Buntingford and runs adjacent to the A10 to the south of Throcking Lane and south of the A507, Baldock Road.

The developed areas of the site will utilise accesses from Throcking Lane and the A507, with strong links to the A10 and sustainable transport options through public transport, walking and cycling.
Yes, there is a current need to provide housing in East Herts as set out by local government policy. East Herts is struggling to meet its current housing obligations to provide 18,458 homes by 2033 outlined in its Local Plan. The Local Plan is underpinned by a housing need of 839 dwellings per annum which has since increased to a requirement of 1,112 dwellings.

There is a significant need for affordable housing in Buntingford which was demonstrated in the latest Affordable Housing Needs Assessment (2022). Since 2016/17, East Herts has delivered 60% - 64% of the affordable housing need for the district, with the Council’s housing waiting list having remained above 2000 households since 2016. In total, 3,785 affordable homes are required. While 239 dwellings in Buntingford have been delivered since 2017, there is a shortfall still outlined by this assessment.

Further to this, the delivery of open market housing will also assist with the affordability of housing stock in Buntingford. The average house price in East Herts has been assessed to be more than 12 times the median gross salary in the area. Failure to deliver sufficient housing to meet local needs can have far reaching social, economic and environmental impacts on communities.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is clear that a lack of housing should not create a barrier to investment, therefore future housing provisions need to support labour force growth in Buntingford. It has been assessed that East Herts will need to support 12,266 jobs between the 2021 – 2033, approximately 1,000 new jobs per annum, thus housing should cater for employment growth in East Herts.

The need for older person’s accommodation is also acute, with East Herts’ 65+ population being 18.7%, higher than the Herts average (17.3%). The 2021 census also recorded that 89% of those aged 65+ lived in under-occupied property in the district. 73.5% of households in the Buntingford ward are also under-occupied.

The solution to delivering affordable housing is through suitably planned growth for the town. In order to meet this need Buntingford, Parkside should come forward as it can make a significant contribution to the affordable housing needs of Buntingford and East Herts.
Buntingford, Parkside is not allocated in the Local Plan however that does not stop these applications from being brought forward. Should a site be considered an appropriate location for housing and local amenities then an argument can be made for an application outside of the Local Plan to be brought forward.

What’s more, a scheme like Buntingford, Parkside hits the requirements of development for Buntingford as outlined in the East Herts Development Plan. This development conforms with the following development principles:

Housing: Additional homes will be provided which will consist of a mix of dwelling types and sizes, including specialist retirement accommodation, to ensure that Buntingford's population is able to access a balanced housing market catering for all life stages.

Education: The educational needs of the town needs to be met by the expansion of educational facilities in the town.

Transport: New developments will encourage the use of sustainable travel modes through the enhancement of walking and cycling links around the town. The impact of development on the local road network will be mitigated through upgrades to existing junctions, including widening of the exit links at the A10/London Road roundabout.

Employment and Retail: The large rural hinterland surrounding the town makes Buntingford an ideal base for small businesses that have links to the town itself rather than those that rely on a proximity to major road networks.

Character: Buntingford will preserve its market town character and the quality of the town’s historic core will be respected in new development proposals. By approving this application, the Council will be securing a mixture of high-quality designed homes which conform to the council’s development plans for Buntingford.

By approving these applications, the Council will be securing a mixture of high-quality designed homes which conform to the council’s development plans for Buntingford.
Hallam Land has engaged in a comprehensive engagement programme with the community and local stakeholders in order to bring together feedback on how these proposals can benefit the local community. This has included:

A public engagement event which was held on Wednesday 31st January 2024

Multiple meetings with local stakeholders – including with East Herts Council’s planning team, Buntingford Town Council, Cottered & Throcking Parish Council and Edwinstree Middle School

Future engagement will occur once the applications have been submitted. East Herts Council will run a statutory consultation on the proposals which will provide another opportunity for residents to feed in their comments directly to the Council’s planning team and this will be considered through their planning process.
Buntingford, Parkside will be providing a whole host of local amenities, including:

Up to 600 new homes – including policy compliant levels of affordable housing to assist with East Herts’ housing shortfall

Creation of a new public Buntingford Park for the whole town, with wildlife enhancement, potential for sports pitches and a wider network of public open space throughout the site

A variety of accessible play spaces including a climbing wall as requested by children at Edwinstree Middle School

An integrated development with Buntingford, through improved connections and access to the new park for existing residents

Employment land to support new and existing businesses

Potential for an onsite doctors surgery

Improvements to local bus services ensuring amenities are accessible by sustainable transport

A new local centre & community hub to meet the community’s needs and provide space to socialize and meet with friends

A First School site

Dedicated accommodation for older residents

Land for a solar farm to deliver green energy
The three applications will be submitted as separate outline planning applications to East Herts Council. An outline application demonstrates the principles of developing the site to provide the housing and local amenities to provide the best community for Buntingford. Furthermore, detailed applications will determine more specific elements of the development such as the materials and design of the housing.

The applications have not yet received planning permission and therefore still needs to go through the Council’s own planning process. This will include review by the East Herts Planning Team, a council-led statutory consultation process and a planning committee meeting with the East Herts Development Management Committee to determine the applications.

So far, the project team has conducted EIA scoping requests which were submitted to the Council to understand the potential impact the development could have on the local environment. The Council has ultimately concluded that the development would have no undue impact on the environment. This is part of planning process and does not guide how a future application may be determined.
No, these applications are not part of the Taylor Wimpey and Vistry schemes coming forward. Those applications that are being developed by separate developers and this site does not form part of any allocation or site with them.
Yes, the applications will provide S.106 contributions which will be agreed between Hallam Land Management, East Herts District Council and Hertfordshire County Council. Currently the applications will provide:

Up to 40% of the proposed new dwellings as affordable homes;

Any necessary highway works (under Section 278 of the Highways Act);

Contributions towards education provision to accommodate growth required from the development;

Contributions towards the on-going maintenance of the open space within the development;

Any necessary contributions towards the provision or improvement of recreation and / or community facilities off site;

Any other reasonable and directly related requirements as may be shown to be necessary based on detailed evidence of need
This is usually done through the statutory consultation process by the Council. In this case, due to the nature of our proposals (given it has provision for a number of different local amenities) we have reached out to local schools and the local doctors surgery to proactively seek their feedback about their requirements from these proposals.

This needs to be done on a case-by-case basis and as such we are happy to continue to engage in dialogue with local services to understand what they need from a future development.
This site will provide a mix of housing options which will give a variety of options. The housing mix of this development will be for up to 600 dwellings, of which up to 240 will be affordable.

The market dwellings will include a mix of sizes, from smaller units to larger family homes, and include self-build / custom build provision. East Herts do not prescribe a mix of housing types and tenures in the East Herts District Plan (EHDP), but Policy HD7 of The Buntingford Neighbourhood Plan requires that new development should reflect local housing need in terms of mix as identified in the most up-to-date Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) and any additional up-to-date evidence. The wording that supports the policy goes on to state that new housing should reflect local requirements which are for a mix of sizes but with a majority of 2 or 3 bedroom units.

The affordable units will be a range of sizes and tenures, including First Homes.

In addition, there will be dedicated elderly accommodation located close to the Local Centre and Community Hub – there is flexibility here too but most likely age restricted apartments.
We are proposing to provide policy compliant levels of affordable housing on this site. This will be secured through dialogue with the East Herts planning team and will be subject to viability.

However, we are committed to provide the maximum level of affordable housing that this site can viably provide.
The North application, which will secure the housing and community infrastructure has been submitted to East Herts Council.

The South application, which will include the employment proposals will be submitted by the end of June 2024.

The application for the solar farm requires some additional technical work undertaking but will be submitted as soon as possible. Once each application has been validated by the East Herts Planning Team, the proposals and all supporting documents will be publicly available on the East Herts Planning Portal.

Landscaping

Hallam Land Management is committed to ensuring this site not only preserves but improves the existing landscape on this site and for the people of Buntingford. The proposals will provide a huge number of landscaping improvements which include:

Setting the development within the eastern half of the site so the site can sit comfortably with the existing Buntingford settlement and within the localised topographic rise to the west of Buntingford.

A large band of public open space in the west to deliver wildlife enhancements adjacent to the Thistley Vale Brook.

A network of high quality, public open spaces with a variety of landscape typologies including woodland, scrub, meadow, hedgerow and publicly accessible amenities will be integrated within the development to deliver high levels of biodiversity net gain.

Formal open space requirements will be included in these public areas providing space for allotments, play space and leisure facilities.

Delivery of green infrastructure linking back to existing Buntingford settlement with structural planting.

Retention and reinforcement of existing hedgerows, increasing the resilience of local habitat networks and delivering site wide biodiversity net gain.
Yes, the development will be providing a new public park for the whole town, with wildlife enhancements, potential for sports pitches and a wider network of public open space throughout the site.

The park will be located in the western areas of the development, integrating it within the existing rural landscape surrounding Buntingford, with strong linkages to the existing town to help improve public access.
Yes, the new park along with its amenities will be publicly available like the rest of the development. It is vital for this development that open spaces are easily accessible for the general public and the site to be designed to connect existing residents with the scheme.
Yes, we are proposing that the site will have a whole range of local public amenities throughout the scheme. This will include potential sites for onsite play spaces, local parks, sports pitches and community allotments.
All of the proposals are identified as lying outside of the fluvial and tidal flood risk zone, according to the Environment Agency’s (EA) published flood map for planning. The EA information indicates that the level of flood risk to the site corresponds to a Flood Zone 1 – low probability of flooding. This flood zone has less than a 1 in 1000-year annual probability of flooding.

The National Planning Policy Framework Planning Practice Guidance states that all types of development are suitable for this flood zone. No other sources of flooding have been identified which are considered to pose a significant risk to the development, this includes flooding from groundwater, overland flows, existing sewers and artificial sources.

The proposed development, including the drainage strategy, will be designed to ensure that the risk of flooding to the site or the surrounding area is not increased as a result of the development coming forward, with any necessary mitigation or management measures incorporated as part of the development proposals.

This site is being developed with sustainability at the centre of this development both in the provision of the design principles of the development and also the construction and sustainable travel options that will be included onsite.

This will be achieved through delivering biodiversity net gain on the residential-led application of 13.8% through enhancing and protecting the existing areas of valuable biodiversity including existing woodland and creating green corridors to enhance the existing ecosystems.

The development will be well connected to promote active, sustainable travel options onsite which will connect the existing community with the new housing and facilities on this site.

The development will also bring green, renewable energy resources to the area through the provision of land for a potential new solar farm.
The housing will achieve modern standards of energy efficiency. Development within the Site will commit to the emerging Future Homes Standard, due 2025, which will require new build homes to be future-proofed with low carbon heating and world-leading levels of energy efficiency.

The integrated solar farm will provide clean, green energy for the future, and help reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Sustainability

Transport

A Transport Assessment is submitted with each planning application which sets out the transport strategy for the proposals. This report includes an assessment of the offsite transport impact, which includes an assessment of traffic impacts as well as the impact on the sustainable transport network. The report demonstrates that the traffic of the proposals can be accommodated within the existing highway network and that offsite impacts would not be significant. These reports can be reviewed once they are uploaded to the East Herts planning website.

In addition, a Travel Plan is also submitted with each application. This sets out details of measures that will be introduced to ensure sustainable travel is promoted from the very outset thereby reducing impact on the offsite highway network. These promotion measures include:

Establishment of a Travel Plan Coordinator as a ‘champion of the cause’ relating to sustainable travel and providing an associated point of contact to bring the strategies forward

Provision of sustainable travel information to occupants of the community

Promotion of various events and campaigns relating to sustainable travel

Provision of a sustainable travel voucher for households for purchases relating to public transport and / or cycle incentives

Improvements to sustainable travel will include enhanced crossing provision over the A10 and improved active travel connections along Baldock Road both up to the A10 and across the A10 towards Buntingford centre. In addition, high quality bus connection will also be provided.
A developed, sustainable transport network is at the heart of this development and is part of East Hert’s development policies to promote active, sustainable transport options in the district.

Active travel is an important element of this development, and the site will be designed to promote this through connections on the site. This will be through the provision of new walking and cycling connections along the A507 and a new TOUCAN crossing at the A10 roundabout, improvements to the existing bridge and footpath that connects from the site down to Bowling Green Lane, and the provision of a new footbridge across the A10 to the north of the residential application.

Two mobility hubs are also proposed within the new residential community. The following facilities will be included between these two sites:

Bus stops with appropriate shelters with Real Time Bus Information boards

Electronic Information boards specifying real time transport timetable information and associated community events

Cycle parking to allow residents to cycle to the hub and park their bikes

Provision of electric charging facilities for electric share bikes and for private users

Electric scooter hubs

Electric vehicle charging points

Seating areas

Car Club spaces

Active travel routes will be developed in the internals of the proposals to positively contribute to the wider pedestrian and cycle networks in Buntingford.

These proposals will also provide connections to local bus services within the site through internal bus stops and a mobility hub providing opportunities to utilise sustainable transport options.
Improving connectivity throughout the development and with the surrounding area has been considered as part of these proposals.

Improved connectivity will be provided between the site and the town centre of Buntingford, with new connections to the existing surrounding pedestrian and cycle networks.

This development will provide new connections to the existing surrounding pedestrian and cycle networks with a combined walking and cycling route in the vicinity of the Baldock Road / A10 roundabout. This will provide direct access to Buntingford’s Town Centre.

New active travel routes will be delivered through the provision of new walking and cycling connections along the A507 and a new TOUCAN crossing at the A10 roundabout, improvements to the existing bridge and footpath that connects from the site down to Bowling Green Lane, and the provision of a new footbridge across the A10 to the north of the residential application.

These improved connections will combine to create a sense of place with the existing Buntingford town and surrounding areas, seamlessly integrating the new site with the existing network.
Vehicular access is proposed via one access point to the north and two access points in the south. The residential-led site access will be achieved via a connection with Throcking Lane (via a priority junction) whereas connection to the south will be achieved via two points of connection with Baldock Road (i.e. a priority junction to the solar farm, and a roundabout access connecting the residential and employment sites to Baldock Road).

The access points will be designed to appropriate design standards in consideration of the vehicles that will use this (i.e. employment and residential traffic). In addition, assessments will be undertaken of the linkage with the A10 and wider network to ensure that appropriate capacity is provided for the volume of vehicles.

The accesses will be designed to appropriate standards in consideration of speeds, traffic flow and masterplan requirements.
This site will have access for cars to park onsite to further help improve access and connectivity to this development. The site will provide policy compliant levels of parking which is set by the Hertfordshire County Council.