St George’s Road development update
Representatives from Hannick Homes and Newlands Homes will be at the PC meeting on Wednesday evening [April 14th] to talk about the building along St George’s Road. Here are the questions the PC has asked the builders to answer:
Rationale for the sale
1 Why did Hannick decide to sell the plot with its planning permission?
The Build
2 Can you please confirm the mix of types and sizes of housing to be built?3 Does Newland intend to modify the full planning permission that has already been agreed with Wiltshire Council.4 If so, what are your plans?5 How will villagers be consulted about these?
Timings
6 When will building on the site begin?7 When will the first houses be occupied?8 When is development likely to be complete?
Allotments
9 Will the allotment area be left as turf or will it be prepared in any way?10 What provision for water will be available at the allotments?11 At what stage will the water feed to the allotments be put in?12 When will the allotments be available for use?
Eco Credentials
The part of the Newlands website [newlandhomes.co.uk/semington] that covers the Semington development says this:
“New homes will be zero carbon and amongst the first in the country to achieve this exceptionally high level of sustainability which far exceed current planning requirements and building regulations for energy efficiency and sustainability. Homes across the development which will be truly sustainable, a core principle for all of our developments with homes benefiting from renewable heating sources with air source heat pumps for all houses. Homes have been orientated to benefit from solar PV and designed with high levels of insulation that far exceed current building regulations.”
We were pleased to read all this. But then a little down the page it says this (our emphasis):
“Looking to the future, there is a passionate commitment to creating an increasingly sustainable legacy with each and every home. There are many features throughout not only our homes, but also the wider development, to mitigate climate change. For example, where possible, investment is made into technologies over and above our planning and building regulation requirements to ensure homes can maximise the benefit of solar pv production offsetting grid electricity usage, and where appropriate we use air source heat pumps or other new technologies avoiding fossil fuel usage that can make homes net zero carbon. Even seemingly small touches such as a composter or water butt, right down to the integrated ecobins in every kitchen to help encourage recycling mean that it’s the little details that make the biggest difference to how we live. Newland Homes prides itself on not only meeting but exceeding current Building Regulations and planning requirements with the future constantly front of mind.”
Bearing the significant differences in the texts in mind, these are our questions:
13 Does the “net-zero carbon” promise apply to the build of the houses or the running of the houses? Or both?14 How many of the 24 houses will have heating provided through air source heat pumps?15 How many of the houses will have electric car charging points provided as standard?16 How many of the houses will have solar PV as standard?17 Will the generation of solar electricity be through panels or through integral roof tiles?18 How many kW of solar PV will each house generate?19 Where will the inverters be located?20 How many of the houses will have battery PV storage as standard?21 How many of the houses will be built with a composter, a water butt and an integrated ecobin?22 By how much will the insulation provided exceed current building regulations?
Further Development
23 Does Hannick or Newland Homes have an option to purchase (or already own) the undeveloped part of the field that lies outside the current plans?24 If so, when is this likely to be brought forward for possible development?25 Will this include features such as a wildlife area or corridor, or a parcel of woodland?