Development overview
The key benefits of the proposals can be summarised as follows:
- Delivery of 350 attractive new homes, of varying size and tenure, making a sizeable contribution to the district's housing need;
- 140 affordable homes, approximately one third of which will be made available for shared ownership;
- Provision of a site for an early years and childcare facility;
- Extensive open space with areas for informal recreation and play;
- Informal play trail around the site, providing opportunities for interactive social and imaginative play;
- Enhancement and retention of existing vegetation and habitats;
- Replacement of Western Road hedgerow with 360-metres of high-quality, native, species-rich hedgerow and trees;
- Provision of 958 designated car parking spaces, including 176 garages and 92 spaces for visitors;
- Cycle storage for both apartments and houses;
- Generous landscaped buffer areas to reduce impact on neighbouring buildings;
- Extensive sustainable drainage areas to reduce the risk of flooding and provide wider ecological and biodiversity enhancements; and
- New cycle paths and pedestrian links.
Creation of character areas
Consideration has been given to the traditional pattern and grain of Silver End and the proposed scheme aims to deliver a well-designed addition to it. There is a gradation of built form towards the central open spaces, with lower density development at the countryside edges. The scheme will become part of, and integrate into, the fabric of Silver End.
Higher density development is characterised by apartment buildings and terraces. Lower density areas feature predominantly detached dwellings in larger plots. Each house is provided with a private garden and all apartments have access to communal amenity space.
The central spine and green
A central spine road runs through the heart of the development and reflects the characteristics of the existing principal avenues in Silver End. Here, larger detached homes are set back from the road edge with generous front gardens and landscaping, providing for an open character. Hedgerows, as another characteristic of Silver End, delineate plot boundaries and help screen parked cars. On entering the site from Western Road, the gently curving spine road provides views of a crescent green, which is framed by detached homes of a single type.
The central green between the northern and southern land parcels features retained and enhanced hedgerow and trees which represent an earlier parish boundary. The green is framed by three storey apartment buildings.
Southern character area
The southern part of the scheme contains Redrow’s arts and crafts inspired dwellings. A simple palette of brick has been chosen, with render applied to accentuate keynote buildings. Along the western edge of the development, dwellings sit in a back-to-back relationship with existing properties. The scale and pattern of development along this boundary is reflective of the adjacent built form and meets separation distance guidance.