MUCH NEEDED NEW HOMES SET FOR NEWPORT AS ST. MODWEN SUBMITS PLANNING APPLICATION

St. Modwen, the UK’s leading regeneration specialist, has submitted an outline planning application to deliver up to 120 new affordable, starter and family homes in Newport, Shropshire.

Masterplanned by urban planners Node Urban Design, the multi-million pound housing scheme has been proposed for 7.8 acres of land to the West of Station Road, Newport, which will comprise a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, designed to echo the varied architectural character of Newport.

Feedback from a successful public consultation event has been fed into the scheme, and considerable investment is being made into the public realm with 2.3 acres of land dedicated to public open space. An existing pond is to be retained along with a number of existing mature trees, hedgerows and landscaped areas, in order to enclose the site with pleasant greenery on all sides. St. Modwen is also investing in ecological improvements through a new drainage pond, which will provide an attractive landscape feature and contribute to habitat creation.

Access to the site will be from a new roundabout junction on Station Road with secondary roads within the site proposed as shared surfaces to create a pedestrian-friendly development. An existing public right-of-way will be retained on the site linking it with the wider rights of way network.

Julie Rossiter, senior asset manager at St. Modwen, said: “The proposal is an opportunity to create a high quality gateway development just a ten minutes’ walk from Newport town centre, perfectly situated to benefit from the town’s amenities.”

The detailed design of the homes will be determined at a later date, but it will pick up the materials and colours of the existing homes in Newport using a mix of red brick, timber framing and render.

Should outline permission be granted by Telford & Wrekin Council, enabling works to prepare the site could start as early as 2016, with a construction programme expected to be phased over three years.

As part of St. Modwen’s target for achieving high quality homes, the designs have been assessed against the standards set by Building for Life 12: the national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods.