Witham St Hughs

Witham St Hugh’s, Lincolnshire

A New Village

We were first instructed by Strawson Holdings Limited to promote the redevelopment of the former RAF Swinderby (formerly the RAF’s School of Recruit Training) in 1996. This was our first commission for what is now one of our largest and longest established clients.

Following the confirmation of the allocation of the Site as a new settlement in the local plan, we assembled and led a multi-disciplinary professional team which, as a first step, undertook a comprehensive feasibility and masterplanning exercise that established the development capacity and provided the principal development parameters of the Site.

We then undertook a wide-ranging pre-application consultation exercise with the local planning authority and other key stakeholders, including the education authority, the primary (health)care trust, the highway authorities, the Environment Agency and Anglian Water Plc.

Following this exercise we drew up and submitted an outline planning application and administered this through to the grant of permission, including negotiating planning conditions and a planning obligation. Subsequently we have overseen the approval of reserved matters, the discharge of planning conditions precedent, the meeting of the Planning Obligation requirements and the implementation of the development on a phased basis.

Strawsons have remained as the lead developer, installing in the physical infrastructure (roads and drainage), the structural landscaping and strategic open space and developing the new village centre, but selling off discrete housing cells to major housebuilders. We were instrumental in introducing a number of these housebuilders to Strawsons.

We are now (2010) in the process of negotiating with the local planning authority and participating in the local development framework process with a view to securing a major new extension to the Village.