On Friday 2 and Saturday 3 March, members of the local community attended the Bury Green Community Planning Weekend to help shape the future of the former GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) brownfield site.
Background The former GSK site at Bury Green is derelict, brownfield land with abandoned buildings falling into disrepair. The site has been vacant for over 15 years. Although planning permission was granted for two substantial data centre sheds, and construction initially commenced meaning it can be built out in perpetuity, this has not been delivered by the market.
The site is a significant brownfield site, and national and local planning policy support the principle of redeveloping previously developed sites to make the best use of them, reducing the need to develop on greenfield land. There is an exciting opportunity to redevelop the site for a range of new homes, whilst sensitively re-planning the site to improve its setting in the countryside and Bury Green, and offering community benefits including open space, recreation and footpath linkages.
Shaw Corporation, acting for the owners Matterhorn, has appointed architects and placemakers JTP to work with the local community at the Community Planning Weekend to create a Vision for the site and its relationship with Bury Green and surrounding settlements.
What happened at the Community Planning Weekend? The event provided an opportunity to share local knowledge and contribute to planning the future of the site through workshops and hands-on planning groups. There was also an exhibition explaining the history and planning background of the site and opportunities to visit the site. Participation was on a drop-in basis with no need to pre-register – people could stay for a short while, a few hours or for the whole event as they chose. Team members were on hand to answer questions.
In addition to the workshops, community members were invited on organised tours. These were thirty minute tours departing from Little Hadham Village Hall on Friday 2 March at 2.30pm and 3.30pm; and Saturday 3 March at 11.15am and 1.45pm.
Report Back Presentation
When: Thursday 22 March 2018, 7.30 - 9.00pm
Venue: Little Hadham Village Hall, The Ford, Little Hadham SG11 2BS
After the Community Planning Weekend, the JTP led team analysed and summarised the outcomes to draw up a Vision. This was presented as a Report Back to the local community at Little Hadham Village Hall.
Following the creation of the Vision, the design team will go on to develop the proposals further in on-going consultation with the community, with a view to submitting an outline planning application for the site in Autumn 2018.
If you would like any more information please contact community@jtp.co.uk or call Freephone 0800 0126 730.