A PROPOSED development of 100 homes in Droitwich is set to become entirely affordable after the site was bought by a housing association.
Bromford has acquired a 12-acre site off Tagwell Road, with pre-existing outline planning permission for 100 homes, from land promoters St Philips Land.
The proposed homes are a mix of one and two bedroom flats and two, three and four bedroom houses. The majority of the homes will be made available for rent, with others forming part of the housing association’s shared ownership scheme.
Properties will be built using modern methods of construction and will be fitted with air source heat pumps and other sustainable solutions to increase energy efficiency.
Bromford’s senior land manager, Duncan Melville, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for us to increase the number of affordable homes we own in the area.
“House prices across Wychavon are 12 times average incomes which is pricing local people out and increasing demand for affordable rented homes.
“By using funding from Homes England all the homes we’ll be building on this will either be for rent or affordable home ownership.”
Subject to gaining reserved matters approval from Wychavon District Council, Bromford’s in-house construction team aims to being development by end of year and be completed by 2027.
The outline planning application was submitted in 2020 and Wychavon did not reach a determination on the proposals. In a statement to the Standard, Wychavon cited the complex nature of the application leading to an inability to make a decision on time.
And although, the appeal decision noted Wychavon had one potential reason for refusing the application had they been able to make a decision, they said in reality, they could not demonstrate a five-year land supply.
The proposed reason for refusal related to the location of the site being outside of Droitwich Spa’s development boundary.
This meant the National Planning Policy Framework’s presumption in favour of sustainable development applied and the proposed reason for refusal would have failed anyway, so Wychavon did not contest. It was granted at appeal by the Planning Inspectorate in October 2022.
With the site now under new ownership, revised plans are being prepared for submission in the near future.
A spokesperson for Wychavon District Council said: “When they are, a new period of public consultation will be carried out in the usual way.
“We don’t have a date at this point for when a decision on the application will be made.”
