South Gloucestershire Strategic Sites

The Challenge

South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) is in the process of preparing its emerging Local Plan. Critical to managing the growth of the district is accommodating 10,000 homes from 2025-2040, a key component of which is over 5,000 homes being delivered from strategic urban and village extensions (SUaVEs). SGC wanted to challenge emerging proposals for the SUaVEs, many of which sit within a sensitive landscape setting, to reflect a best-practice approach to large-scale housing development. This included increasing densities, achieving a better mix and integration of uses, and incorporating multifunctional green infrastructure.

Our Role

We helped the client develop a programme of work that addressed this brief, including an initial critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging masterplans for the SUaVEs; and an in-depth review - quantitative and qualitative - of development delivered across SGC’s strategic sites over the last 20 years. This afforded an understanding of ‘business-as usual’ housebuilder-led development across the district, including average densities, land use mix, and speed of delivery.  Using this baseline, plus a review of ‘what good looks like’ from exemplars, we developed a 'proof of concept' using more varied housing typologies, and current urban design thinking. This has formed the basis of a series of new concept and parcelisation plans for each SUaVE, based on these principles.

The Outcome

The resulting plans will ensure SGC delivers more and better housing with less land-take, and have been prepared in time to enable SCG to submit its Reg.19 Local Plan in time to avoid the need for wholesale changes to the Local Plan to reflect the new NPPF.