DEVELOPMENT
CONCEPT
BENSON’S FARM
Land north of Wash Road,
Noak Bridge, Basildon
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT
ALLOCATION
Landscape Planning & Design
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Development Concept
NC16.243-rep01
22/03/2016
A R French and Son
BENSON’S FARM
Land north of Wash Road, Noak Bridge, Basildon
PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT ALLOCATION
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Landscape Planning & Design
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BENSON’S FARM – Development Concept
Landscape Planning & Design
DOCUMENT PACK & CONTENTS
Main text
1.
2.
3.
4.
Background
Description of the land
Masterplan rationale
Conclusions
Figures
Figure 1
Concept Masterplan
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BENSON’S FARM LVIA
Landscape Planning & Design
1.
Background
1.1
This development masterplan explores the potential capacity of
land north of Wash Road at Noak Bridge, on the northern edge of
Basildon. It is a piece of land that has been identified and
considered for development potential in Basildon Borough Draft
Local Plan documents. These documents identify the land as
H12A. The suffix ‘A’ acknowledges that it is considered a possible
alternative development location for what currently is considered in
the draft local plan to be a more favourable site a little way to the
east (H12 – Land East of Noak Bridge, Wash Road, Basildon). The
draft local plan discounts H12A in preference to H12 due to
concerns over landscape and Greenbelt impacts. This decision is
primarily based on the findings of the Basildon Outline Landscape
Appraisals of Potential Strategic Development Sites (in this
document the land is known as Site 17). This in turn has regard to
the findings of the Green Belt Landscape Capacity Study (in the
Green Belt Capacity Study the H12A area falls into the wider study
area known as Area 22).
1.2
Quotes from Outline Landscape Appraisal:
Green Belt Landscape Capacity Assessment rating
Site 17 falls within Area 22 in the Green Belt Landscape Capacity
Study with a band of land following the southern and western
boundary. Site 17 also includes the housing to the north of Wash
Road that falls outside of the Green Belt. Area 22 as a whole was
assessed as having a No/Very Low relative landscape capacity
rating. This was particularly due to the openness to public view from
Wash Road, Barleylands Road, Noak Hill Road/A176 and the
network of the public footpaths within and adjacent to the north of
the site. Further characteristics of high sensitivity are the lack of
enclosure to the site by vegetation and the importance of the
landscape in retaining the sense of separation between Basildon
and Billericay (including South Green/ Great Burstead).
Site sensitivity
The above characteristics identified for Area 22 extend across all of
Site 17 and there are no significant variations in sensitivity within
the site.
1.3
1.4
The Green Belt Landscape Capacity Assessment raises 4 points /
aspects leading to the judgement of No/Very Low relative
landscape capacity rating for this area. These are:
•
The openness to public view from Wash Road, Barleylands
Road, Noak Hill Road/A176;
•
The network of the public footpaths within and adjacent to the
north of the site;
•
The lack of enclosure to the site by vegetation; and
•
The importance of the landscape in retaining the sense of
separation between Basildon and Billericay (including South
Green/ Great Burstead).
The Green Belt Landscape Capacity Study also claims that the
whole of Site 17 / H12A is consistently subject to these constraints.
This is felt to be an over simplification. There are some parts of this
area which are clearly less favourable for development and
development of these areas would be likely to cause some erosion
of gaps between settlements and may be harmful to the local
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Landscape Planning & Design
landscape. However, there are also other parts of Site 17 / H12A
where there is good capacity for development and development in
these areas could avoid and protect against any erosion of gaps
between settlements, and harm to the landscape more widely. The
broad scale work of the two Basildon studies (the Green Belt
Landscape Capacity Assessment and the Basildon Outline
Landscape Appraisals of Potential Strategic Development Sites)
fails to address this potential development scenario and as a result
an opportunity for development may be unhelpfully overlooked.
This masterplan seeks to illustrate how a successful development
could be planned within Site 17 / H12A in a way that would protect
and enhance the local landscape and avoid any substantive erosion
of gaps between settlements. The principle owner and promoter of
this land also owns further agricultural land to the north and is
amenable to including offsite landscape enhancements as part of
any development proposal. This masterplan includes ideas for field
boundary hedge reinstatements and hedgerow tree plantings to
restore a more enclosed and attractive structure to the landscape
setting around the development and generally to the north of the
Noak Bridge area of Basildon.
2.
Description of the land
2.1
The land comprising the H12A / Site 17 extends from Noak Hill
Road (A176) in the west to Barleylands Road in the east. It forms
a strip of land tracing the road-side between the edge of
development at Noak Hill, down to Wash Road and along Wash
Road to Barleylands Road. However, this strip of land is variable
in its content and character. It starts in the east as a large open
arable field alongside Noak Hill Road and finishes with another
open field alongside Barleylands Road. However, the middle
section is more of a complex of development and field parcels.
From west to east the development consists of Watch House Farm,
Martindale Avenue, a strip of 20 houses fronting onto Wash Road,
the Prince of Wales Pub, two further houses, and Bensons Farm.
The open land between and around this development includes
arable fields, smaller market gardening fields and a couple of
unproductive grassland areas. The immediate outlying farmland to
the north is an open landscape of arable fields with only scattered
trees and few lengths of field hedge. It is described in detail in the
Basildon Borough Landscape Character Assessment and Green
Belt Landscape Capacity Study, October 2013 as LCA 9 – Upper
Crouch Valley Farmlands.
3.
Masterplan rationale
3.1
The eastern and western ends of the H12A / Site 17 land are quite
exposed and lead more generally in the direction of other nearby
settlement areas outlying from Basildon. They are also highly
visible areas on the approach to or exit from Basildon. These
factors combine to mean that these areas are more important in
Green Belt terms and are critical to the maintenance of gaps /
separation between settlements.
The masterplan proposal
respects this and development is kept away from both Noak Hill
Road and Barleylands Road.
3.2
The middle sections of the land are more contained and integrated
into the existing settlement edge. These areas are also far less
visible and prominent in the general experience of the area.
Development within these areas would have no effect on the
perception of settlement separation and could be designed to be
quite recessive in the scene. Accordingly, the existing pattern of
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development could accommodate some further development
without a notable intrusion of built form in the landscape away from
the edge of Basildon.
3.3
The masterplan envisions an intensification of the patchwork of
development in the central section on the north side of Wash Road,
but that this patchwork of development would be supplemented by
a patchwork of parkland spaces and woodland blocks. These
landscape features would provide an enhanced landscape
structure to help absorb the development into the landscape and to
provide a softened settlement edge. They would also provide
spaces in which to enjoy views out to the outlying countryside and
as stepping stones or gateway sites for exploration into the
countryside using the existing footpath network.
3.4
With appropriate outlying land also in the control of the land
promoter, the masterplan also proposes wider landscape
enhancements of this adjacent countryside through field hedge
reinstatements, additional hedgerow tree plantings and perhaps
ponds and copses or other rural features of interest in field corners.
This treatment would make for a more enclosed, intimate and
visually interesting landscape which would be more attractive for
the leisure use of local footpaths. It would also assist with a wider
softening of the appearance and prominence of development and
would improve the apparent separation of settlements. These
wider landscape proposals, together with the proposed woodland
blocks integrated into the edges of the development, would be
entirely in keeping with the management guidelines for the area in
the Basildon Borough Landscape Character Assessment and
Green Belt Landscape Capacity Study, October 2013.
4.
Conclusion
4.1
Although the various Council studies have suggested a low relative
landscape capacity for the H12A / Site 17 area overall, this
masterplan demonstrates that selective development of some of
this land could still be accommodated without undue harm to the
Green Belt or the wider landscape. In fact with good design a very
attractive development could be provided here and this could
deliver an enhancement to the accessibility and character of the
adjacent outlying countryside.
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FIGURES
Figure 1
NC16.243-rep01
Concept Masterplan
22/03/2016
Figures
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Meadow
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Proposed
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Proposed
Development
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Wash
MASTERPLAN
Benson’s Farm
Land north of Wash Road,
Noak Bridge, Basildon
NC16.243-Rep01
Aerial photography imagery © 2016 HERE © 2016 Microsoft
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FIGURE 1.