A LONG-RUNNING bid to build 800 homes in Newland could be given the green light by the end of the year, more than three years after initial plans were first revealed.
The plans have been put together by developers Gleeson Developments and Welbeck Strategic Land and boast homes as well as space for a local business, a care home and a village centre with shops, a community hall and a small office for West Mercia Police officers.
Playing fields, a multi-use games area, children’s play areas, woodland planting, allotment land and a wildlife area are also included in the application.
The area close to the railway line and Worcester Road is already earmarked for new housing under the South Worcestershire Development Plan.
District council chiefs had put an initial target date of February 2016 to make a decision on the former farmyard site, situated by Lower Howsell Road.
Early plans included building a new primary school but this was removed in a revised application.
Extended
Under the revised plans, the proposed cemetery was omitted, the size of the playing fields would include three football pitches and a cricket pitch, the community hall would be extended and the ‘green infrastructure’ would be increased.
This includes woodland, orchards, allotments and open spaces.
Alistair Watson, managing partner at Welbeck Strategic Land, told the Observer: “It has been a laborious process waiting for a decision date but we are delighted we are almost there because the plans are allocated in the SWDP.”
If approval is granted, Mr Watson said it could take more than a year before building work starts.
“The first thing we are going to do is road improvements,” he said.
“We have already got outlined plans approved by the county’s highways team for the proposed roundabout we are going to be installing.”
A council spokesman said: “There is no confirmed date for the application to go to committee at the moment, however, the planning team are hopeful it will go to committee by November.”
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