The intention of this outline proposal is to achieve a scheme that is neither a conventional housing estate nor the extension of an existing conurbation but a rural settlement with its own clear identity, that encourages the creation of a strong community with a collective investment in its creation and long term maintenance.

It is proposed that many of the houses will be for self builders, so they are likely to have common purpose in achieving such a settlement, and the opportunity to provide a wide ranging mixture of house types and sizes also contributes to this.

The site layout is a key starting point in achieving this, not only in the proposed built form but also through the circulation and shared amenity within the site.

The pedestrian path network will seek to achieve high levels of permeability within the site and allow access to the shared amenity, including the woods. The immediate public footpath network is not extensive so full use should be made of the available amenity within the extended site.

The landscape will then have the potential to be used fully and residents will have the opportunity to be more engaged with it, in this way providing a great shared amenity, particularly for families. The pedestrian routes should form a clear structure within the site and the vehicle network should be subservient to this.

The need for permeability extends to the nature of the shared space within the development. The conventional approach of hiding houses behind highly defined boundaries and forming contained roadways, encourages a closed way of thinking about one’s environment. This is very much driven by designing for the vehicle as a priority and causes both physical and social separation, with people travelling about in hermetically sealed vehicles from door to door, eroding community and in turn leading to residents having less investment in their immediate environment, which then becomes degraded.

By having frontages addressing the common space, it is then monitored and becomes less isolated and more used, both for play and recreation and for community activity. The public space should be a fully and coherently landscaped area right up to the house frontages, accommodating the vehicle but not dominated by it. Traffic numbers are likely to be low and speeds should be controlled by design as well as by community engagement and self interest. Wherever possible, these should be shared spaces where pedestrians and cyclists have priority and vehicles are invited.