Plan for houses on green field in rural village on edge of Panattoni Park
The site is just on the boundary of Panattoni Park- the redevelopment of the old Honda factory
A greenfield site in what is still a largely rural village on the very edge of Swindon could see nine new houses built – and it could be surrounded by another 57.
Property development company Spire Housing Developments has submitted a proposal to build nine houses on the field to the north of Thornhill Road in South Marston, between the Swindon Self-Storage facility and St Michael’s cottage.
The site is just on the boundary of Panattoni Park- the redevelopment of the old Honda factory.
The company wants to build six houses with two bedrooms suitable for four people, and three houses with three bedrooms which can accommodate up to five people off a short access road running from Thornhill Road.
The rectangular field is surrounded by the site of an existing application for 57 houses which could be built on the self-storage site, and an open greenfield to the north. That application is still working its way through the planning system with Swindon Borough Council.
Spire Housing’s application notes that the site is designated a brownfield site, i.e. previously built upon.
It adds: “Even though there will be new development on the site of nine new dwellings, this is not considered to be significant enough to result in any unacceptable impact to adjoining residential amenity.
“The proposal would provide two car parking spaces per dwelling in compliance with the council’s adopted parking standards.”
The site will be surrounded on three of its sides by hedges and trees and there will be a public open space in the north east of the site.
The application adds: “The scheme is sympathetic to the immediate residential housing and heritage assets, within Thornhill Road.
“This has been achieved by how well screened the proposed development will remain, and the separation distances between the proposals and the existing buildings of interest, we do not consider that the proposals would result in harmful or detrimental impacts on the identified heritage assets or the wider area
“There is sufficient evidence that the Application Site could comfortably accommodate the proposed dwellings and sufficient car parking for its occupants without compromising local character.
“This will in turn assist in addressing the Borough Council’s current five-year housing land supply shortfall. It is considered that there is an over-reliance on large strategic sites which take a long time to come forward. It is the smaller sites to bring forward housing in the short term.
There have been several proposals to build on the site previously submitted
A plan for six houses on this site, and one for 47 houses on the larger site next door, both put in in 2005 were both approved while a 2014 plan for 115 houses on the wider site was withdrawn.