Detailed plans have been submitted for the next phase of a giant 1,800-home housing estate, which will extend the boundaries of an Oxfordshire town.
Applicant Croudace Homes and the University of Reading have submitted the plans to build 64 houses in the north east of Didcot as part of the Willowbrook Park housing estate, which received outline planning permission from South Oxfordshire District Council in June 2017.
The planning authority approved plans with the condition that each phase was brought back to the council with more detail, including the appearance, layout, scale and more.
Proposals are now being submitted via reserved matters, meaning they contain details about development design.
A planning paper says: “It is a general housing designated site with allowance for up to 64 dwellings, mixed 20 per cent affordable housing and 80 per cent open market sales.
“The car parking provision shall be in accordance with the max.
“The layout shall respect the design code street hierarchy and form streets and enclosed spaces that create clear, legible connectivity with strong balanced frontages.
“A key aspect of the approved Willowbrook masterplan is the connectivity of routes across the site for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists.
“The proposal shall recognise the desired routes that skirt and cross the site and form positive edge to edge connectivity via shared paths and traffic calmed streets, overlooked by housing.”
Developments described in the application relate to areas designated Spine Road, Green Buffer Edge and Connector Streets.
The proposal adopts a colour palette of a primarily multi-red facing brick for the external walling as well as a single roof cladding with a grey slate appearance.
Design is said to have been influenced by the architectural character of the wider Didcot and Willowbrook Park development, maintaining the “traditional domestic design” of “high quality”.
Willowbrook Park in Didcot
News of the plan comes after the Wantage constituency, which includes Didcot, was named by the Sunday Times as ‘Britain’s housebuilding capital’ last year.
Other new developments in the town include Great Western Park, a village of 3,300 homes.
Conservative councillor Ian Snowdon, who represents Didcot on Oxfordshire County Council and South Oxfordshire District Council, previously told the paper: “All the surgeries here are full up to new arrivals.
“Children are accepted, but everyone else has to stay with their original doctor — which means I’ve got residents going back to their GP in places like Slough for appointments.”
The developer concluded: “The proposal is designed with security in mind.
“The layout and principal living accommodation is orientated to overlook public realm and car parking areas.”
