Richborough was founded in 2003 and is one of the UK’s most successful specialist land promotion businesses. It promotes land via the planning system for residential, commercial and mixed-uses and focuses heavily on placemaking, local communities and ensuring development complements and enhances existing infrastructure.

The site comprises a single agricultural field in arable use, extending to approximately 5.6 hectares. The site sits across a gradual fall in slope, from west to east.

The site is defined by Church Road to the northwest, Orton Road to the south and the recently constructed Cornfields development to the east. Boundaries are defined in the main by hedgerows and hedgerow trees. Two existing field accesses are present with one to Orton Road and one to Church Road.

There are a number of factors that the site will have regard to:

• Retaining and strengthening the hedgerows and trees located along the site’s boundaries
• Protecting the amenity of existing residents adjacent to the site including Church Road and Red Marl Way
• New publicly accessible open space that will provide an appropriate transition from the village settlement to the countryside
• Biodiversity enhancement through the creation of new habitats and green space.

Government Policy
The Government requires local planning authorities to have an up-to-date local plan to shape how land use and places will change and develop in the future. The planning system is intended to be genuinely plan-led.

Local plans are required to provide a positive vision for the future of each area; a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities; and a platform for local people to shape their surroundings. Local plans must support the delivery of enough homes to meet housing needs.

The policies in the adopted Local Plan in respect of the supply of homes are considered out of date by Richborough, as the Council cannot currently demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing land.

North Warwickshire Planning Policy
The North Warwickshire Borough Local Plan was adopted in September 2021 and provides a strategy from 2011 to 2033.

Local Plan Policy LP2 identifies Warton as a category 4 settlement, where development within development boundaries will be supported in principle. Development directly adjacent to settlement boundaries may also be acceptable. The proposed site will help boost housing supply in North Warwickshire and assist in meeting identified housing needs.

The site is adjacent to the settlement boundary and provides a logical expansion to the sustainable village of Warton. The site is not in the Green Belt.

Homes
The proposal includes the construction of up to 110 new homes ranging in size to meet needs of first-time buyers, couples, downsizers and families.

The housing mix would include a range of detached semi-detached and terraced properties, including the provision of affordable housing (40% of all homes).

Each proposed dwelling will have on-plot car parking with a minimum of 2 allocated spaces for every property. All homes will have Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure.

Access
It is proposed to access the site via Red Marl Way to the east. This road was constructed as part of adjacent Cornfields development, previously promoted by Richborough

It is also proposed to provide a further emergency vehicle access onto Church Road.

The proposal aims to encourage active travel by providing a choice of circular links which join existing footway provision on Orton Road and Church Road and extend to the adjacent recreational ground and existing public open space to the east.

Open Space
New open space is proposed within the site in the form of a focal green space and a wildlife corridor that extends to all site boundaries. This creates a series of linked open spaces to integrate the view of Holy Trinity Church and provide an enhanced network of footways. The central green spaces provide a focal community space within the proposal.

The areas of public open space will include soft landscaping and planting and will be overlooked by the proposed new homes.

All existing hedgerows and trees around the site will be retained. There will also be new tree and hedgerow planting throughout the new development.

Flood Risk & Drainage
Any application will be supported by a Flood Risk Assessment and drainage strategy.

The development will utilise Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS) to deal with surface water. This will include a new attenuation pond in the south eastern area of the site. The location of the pond has been determined by site topography and represents a low point in the immediate area. This has been designed to make allowance for storm events up to 1 in 100 year return period plus an appropriate allowance for climate change.

Local Infrastructure
On site provision and/or financial contributions will be provided towards local infrastructure to mitigate any impact of the development. These contributions will be secured through a legal agreement. Any on site infrastructure or off-site financial contributions will be finalised through a planning application following discussions with North Warwickshire and other infrastructure providers including Warwickshire County Council Education and the Integrated Care Board (health).

The design of the proposal has been informed by a number of constraints and opportunities including the presence of trees and hedgerows, any longer-distance views of the site and the need to protect the amenity of residents, including existing neighbours to Church Road and Bellway Homes development, Cornfields.

The key design principles are as follows:

• Development set back from the site boundaries and creation of new landscaped edge to maintain a soft transition into the village from the countryside
• Retention of existing trees and hedgerows and provision of new wildlife corridors to deliver a net gain in biodiversity
• Inclusive access to enable residents to move around comfortably without encountering obstructions and access existing village facilities by sustainable means
• Provision of layout arrangement within the site to foster low speed vehicular movement
• A density of development that reflects the recently constructed homes to the east and respects the character of Warton village
• A green infrastructure network that creates a series of linked open spaces which integrate the view of Holy Trinity Church, soften the visual impact of the development and provide recreational benefit to the wider community
• A central green space that provides a focal community space within the proposal
• The provision of a range of house types, sizes and tenures to contribute positively to the quality and character of the new development and reflect the local vernacular
• Ensuring all homes have on-plot and integral parking provided which are positioned not to dominate the appearance of the development and reduce the need for street parking

The site comprises a single agricultural field in arable use, extending to approximately 5.6 hectares. The following Development Framework Plan sets out the broad development parameters including points of access, open space and extent of built development. The Plan incorporates the design principles set out above.

Richborough is preparing an outline planning application for this site.

An outline planning application establishes the broad principles of development, such as the number and mix of new homes, open spaces, illustrative masterplan and access arrangements.

We would welcome your comments and feedback via our questionnaire below as we finalise our outline plans ready for submission to North Warwickshire Borough Council.

Once the planning application is submitted, there will be further opportunity to comment through the Statutory Consultation conducted by the Council as it considers the outline planning application.

If outline consent is granted, a detailed planning application would be prepared called a Reserved Matters application. This would include more detail such as architecture, materials, detailed layout and landscaping, and would be subject to further consultation with the local community prior to submission of the application.

This would provide the community with another opportunity to provide input to ensure that the detail of the new development further reflects local needs and aspirations.

We would welcome your comments on any part of the development proposals. To send us your comments, please complete the short questionnaire below.

These must be returned by 8th March 2025

Alternatively you can email your comments to info@evolvepad.co.uk or send your comments by post to Freepost EVOLVE.

We will consider all the feedback and suggestions received as part of this consultation and use them to help shape the proposals for this site. A planning application will then be submitted to North Warwickshire Borough Council in Spring 2025. North Warwickshire Borough Council will undertake a further consultation once an application is submitted.

Thank you for taking the time to visit the website.