Grove Farm development in Hampshire given reserved matters planning approval

The first phase of a new housing neighbourhood being built by Berkeley Homes in Hampshire has received reserved matters planning approval.

Proposals for the first phase would see 172 homes built across the southern half of the 35ha site, located at Grove Farm to the west of the town of Fleet.

Designed by architect JTP, the scheme will comprise a range of homes from one-bedroomed flats through to four-bedroom family houses.

JTP said nearly a third (31%) of the homes would be for affordable rent, while 15% would be offered on a shared-ownership basis. The firm said the affordable homes would be distributed “among the types and across the site”.

Objectors to previous plans for the scheme had warned the affordable homes had been “grouped into an isolated corner ‘ghetto’ of the layout, rather than being integrated throughout the site”.

Dominic Chapman, JTP’s partner leading the project, said the firm’s proposals had “grown out of a response to context […] and establish a sense of place for future phases to be built on”.

The overall scheme at Grove Farm will eventually feature more than 400 homes but the development has faced opposition from some local community groups.

JTP recently saw its plans for a development that will include 500 homes in east Cambridgeshire given a resolution to grant outline planning.

Kennett Garden Village is a community-led initiative by the Kennett Community Land Trust and was commissioned by Palace Green Homes, an arm’s-length company set up by East Cambridgeshire council.