Plans approved for phase one of flagship development in Stevenage

Stevenage Borough Council has approved plans to deliver 243 homes in the first phase of a joint scheme by Bellway North London and Miller Homes.

Outline planning permission for up to 800 homes on the site off North Road – as well as a local centre, a primary school, country park and public open space – was granted by the local authority in September 2022.

Detailed plans by the developers to build 243 homes within phase 1 were approved by the council's planning committee on Thursday (February 9).

A separate application with details of the site-wide infrastructure was also approved. Bellway plans to deliver 105 of these homes, consisting of 75 two, three and four-bedroom properties for private sale and 30 affordable homes available for local people through low-cost rent or shared ownership.

Reserved matters applications for a further 115 homes within phase 1 and the 93-acre country park are to be considered by the council at a later date.

The new homes occupy an area of land near Rooks Nest House, where novelist EM Forster lived as a child, and which was the inspiration for his novel Howards End, published in 1910.

Devlopers insist that their plans for part of the first phase of the development that lies within the St Nicholas/Rectory Lane Conservation Area, which includes Rooks Nest, have been carefully designed to be sensitive to their historic surroundings, with complementary character areas throughout the development.

Ali Maruf, Managing Director for Bellway North London, said: "The approval from Stevenage Borough Council gives us the green light to go ahead with our plans to start the transformation of this 183-acre site.

"We have worked closely with the local authority to bring much-needed new housing to Stevenage and to meet the specific needs of the area. Now that the plans have been approved, we will look to start work in the spring.

"We are aware of the historic literary significance of the area and are focused on creating a new neighbourhood sympathetic to the unique character of the conservation area and surrounding landscape which inspired EM Forster's work."

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