Chelmsford Garden Community Development Framework Document receives the green light

Published on 10 March 2023

Building on the success of the award-winning communities already established at Beaulieu and Channels, JTP is delighted that Chelmsford City Council cabinet has approved the Chelmsford Garden Community Development Framework Document (DFD).

Over the next 20 years, the new landscape-led Garden Community will include over 50% of the land area as green infrastructure, approximately 5,500 new homes and 60,000 sqm of employment space.

Designed around four new villages, the masterplan will create distinct areas of varying character with each village centre offering hubs of activity and local amenities. The Garden Community will feature four primary schools, a secondary school, local employment hubs, a new medical centre, a community centre and a village hall which will be the home of the newly created Chelmsford Garden Community Council.

The DFD has been underpinned by a set of guiding principles to assist in creating the overall ethos and vision for Chelmsford Garden Community. The document contains Framework Parameter Plans, an illustrative masterplan, an approach to design coding, and sets out delivery and phasing and a stewardship plan for the long-term. It provides a comprehensive and thorough framework for delivering the new community to guide and inform all future planning applications.

On behalf of the developer consortium of Ptarmigan Land, Countryside, L&Q, and Halley Development, and as lead masterplanner, JTP has led the collaborative team alongside BMD (landscape), DWD (planning), Mayer Brown (transport), AECOM (engineering and heritage), Turley (sustainability), Quod (community and education facilities), SES and Logika (environmental), and SHA (arboriculture). JTP are currently preparing planning applications for Zones 1 and 2 of the Garden Community.

Commissioned by the developer consortium, and produced in partnership with Chelmsford City Council, Essex County Council and Homes England, the DFD was shaped by an extensive collaborative design process, which included wide-ranging stakeholder and community engagement exercises, including a series of technical and masterplanning workshops, design charrettes and public exhibitions. The outcomes from this collaboration were fed into the development of the proposals and the drawing up of the DFD and accompanying Infrastructure Delivery Plan (IDP).

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Chelmsford Garden Community has proved to be a truly collaborative project! JTP is delighted to have engaged with the local community and led the masterplanning team to plan this sustainable new Garden Community that will provide new homes and employment space, whilst maximising opportunities for active travel and delivering great community facilities, all within a high-quality, landscape setting. We look forward to the continued success of the project.

Joanna Allen, Partner at JTP

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Community
Planning

Chelmsford Garden Community,
Chelmsford, UK

New Settlement
Stage: Community Planning