Ebbsfleet scheme with Clarion Housing Group approved as housebuilder picked by Homes England for two further sites
Ebbsfleet Development Corporation has approved plans from Countryside and Clarion Housing Group for a 281-home “village” scheme in Ashmere in the garden city’s Eastern Quarry site.
The scheme will include 175 one and two bed apartments and 106 houses, with 25% of the scheme being affordable homes either for social rent or shared ownership.
The scheme was approved by officers at the development corporation under delegated powers, due to the difficulty of holding planning committee meetings under the coronavirus lockdown. It is thought to be one of the largest schemes to have been approved by delegated powers since lockdown began more than a month ago.
The scheme marks the first phase of the proposed Ashmere village, which the development corporation says will ultimately consist of 3,000 homes, a new primary school and a village centre.
Mark Pullin, chief planning officer at Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, said: “Whilst these are challenging times for us all and working practices have changed in recent weeks, we have been able to approve these plans under powers already delegated to officers.
The development corporation said the design of the scheme fused references to the oast houses of Kent’s villages with the Georgian streets of Gravesend. It will also include 40% more street trees, in a move which the corporation said would “put the garden in to garden city”.
The news came as Countryside announced it had been selected by housing quango Homes England to develop two schemes totalling 900 homes, including a package of regeneration sites in Chatham’s historic dockyard area (pictured, left).
The 2.7 hectares Chatham scheme will deliver 274 homes and 11,000 sq ft of commercial space, with work due to start in 2022 prior to completion in 2026.
In addition, Countryside said it had also been selected to build the 22 hectare Spencer’s Park scheme in Hertfordshire (pictured, below), where 100% of the 600 homes planned will be constructed using modern methods of construction. Construction is also set to begin in 2022, with completion anticipated in 2028.
Stephen Kinsella, chief land and development officer at Homes England, said the contracts showed that “Homes England is open for business and continuing to support housebuilding recovery during this challenging time.”
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