In 2016 the Metis Homes Land and Planning team identified the residential development potential of a parcel of land outside the village boundary of Houghton, near Stockbridge in Hampshire.
The land was acquired and promoted by the Metis team through the Test Valley Local Plan for inclusion within the village settlement boundary, which was key to unlocking its development potential.
Alongside this process, the Metis Planning team embarked on a comprehensive process of consultation with the community and key stakeholders which included the Parish Council and officers at the planning authority. Within the heart of the conservation area, it was essential that the layout of the proposed new homes at this site, and their detailed design related positively to the historic pattern of development within the village and sat comfortably within their mature landscape setting.
The high quality development of six new homes included a drainage field below a new orchard at the site frontage, reinstating the feature which gave the site its original name. The waste water is treated on site through a package sewage treatment plant (situated below the ground) and the clean water discharged into a drainage field below the orchard. Our technical teams worked together closely to provide a solution which enabled planting of particular species within and around the orchard above the drainage field and the use of root barriers to prevent any infiltration from the roots of larger species planted in proximity to it.
The resultant high quality bespoke development at Kents Orchard is the product of comprehensive exercise in consultation and collaboration between Metis Homes, Test Valley Borough Council and all key stakeholders. This process has resulted in a bespoke development of six new homes in a contemporary rural style, set within a carefully considered hard and soft landscape framework which provides both an attractive sylvan setting to the development and is functional in softening the built form and its associated infrastructure.
The development, and more specifically the planning process involved was in 2019 nominated to the Royal Town Planning Institute and shortlisted for a national award in planning excellence.
