PLANS for a 2,200-home ‘super village’ on the edge of Worcester are back before planners. Outline permission for a huge development between St Peter’s and Kempsey was granted in 2018.
Now the first in a series of applications setting out the finer details of the scheme has been put forward.
The overall development will see 2,204 homes built on land between Bath Road and Norton Road, south of Taylors Lane.
Shops, sports facilities, a hotel, a primary school, allotments and retirement housing also form part of the Hopfields scheme, which is part of the urban extension of Worcester.
The first ‘reserved matters’ application sets out plans for the new roads that will serve the development. These include access from the A4440 Broomhall Way/Crookbarrow Way, access from Bath Road and several spine roads including one running from Norton Road south to the proposed location of the new primary school.
Also included in Phase 1A are plans for a “landscape buffer” at the southern edge of the site, referred to in the plans as the Crookbarrow Woodland link.
Development of the 20-hectare site is being driven by developer Welbeck Strategic Land, while homebuilder Vistry Group is set to complete the purchase of the site this month.
Vistry “will deliver all of the residential development and local centre included in the outline planning permission”, the plans state, with 14 hectares of employment land set to be “delivered by other parties”.
Before the latest plans were submitted, developers held talks with Worcestershire Highways and Malvern Hills District Council. The wider site falls within the boundaries of Malvern Hills, Wychavon and Worcester – but Malvern Hills has been designated the lead local planning authority for the proposal.
The plans say there will be a “network of tree-lined streets” and 20mph speed limits in the new village centre.
Proposals also include an “emphasis on walking routes with safe crossing arrangements” and a segregated pedestrian cycle route along the length of the main road.
“Pedestrian and cycle movement has been prioritised to improve active travel and reduce car use,” the plans state.
