WELCOME INTRODUCTION Thank you for coming along to this public exhibition of Ashfield Land s proposals for a new employment-led, mixed use development at land at Nene Valley Farm, Rushden. The purpose of this exhibition is to consult local residents, businesses and stakeholders on the emerging proposals for this site. The project team are here to answer any questions you may have and you can leave your feedback with us today by filling in a feedback form. We encourage you to give us your comments so that the team can ensure that all feedback is properly recorded and considered as we continue to develop the scheme ahead of submitting a planning application. THE TEAM Ashfield Land is a well-established expert property company, working across both the commercial and residential sectors, to deliver quality developments nationwide. Ashfield Land has many years of professional experience and a proven track record of delivering high quality developments. Recent examples of our schemes include: Regent Circus, Swindon major retail and leisure development comprising a 50,000 sq ft foodstore, a six screen cinema, and eight restaurants, along with the conversion of the old Technical College to PRS residential use. Ionic Park, Dudley the redevelopment of a highly contaminated site to deliver a high quality trade park/industrial space in the West Midlands. St Catherine s Court, Bristol regeneration of a landmark city centre site for 30,000 sq ft high quality office building. Completed in 2009, St Catherine s Court was the first new office building to be developed in the prime Clifton quarter of Bristol for over 20 years and achieved the first City Centre BREEAM Excellent accreditation. An experienced team of consultants have been appointed to provide technical expertise to inform the scheme design.
THE SITE The site was acquired by Ashfield Land in January 2016 and comprises 11.31ha (28 acres) of agricultural land, located to the north of Rushden. The site is bound to the north / northwest by the A45 and to the south by Northampton Road. The southwestern corner of the site is defined by junction 17 of the A45. To the east is the RPC Containers industrial unit and to the south/southeast of the site are a number of residential dwellings. Rushden town bowling club is located to the immediate south of the site. South of Northampton Road is an existing supermarket, the Needle and Awl public house and a number of industrial/business units. To the southwest of the site are the Crown Park and Wellingborough Road Industrial Estates, which include a number of national occupiers, including Waitrose and Wickes. To the west of the site, on the northern side of the A45, is the development site for the Rushden Lakes out of town Retail Park, the first stores of which are due to open in spring 2017. A B C D E F G H I PLANNING CONTEXT The site has an allocation within the adopted North Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit Joint Core Strategy (JCS) (14 July 2016) at Policy 35 (Land at Nene Valley Farm) for: A mix of B1 (business) and B2 (general industry) employment uses together with a place of worship, open space and other employment uses where these are compatible with the intended primary uses. The land to which this policy allocation relates largely corresponds to the extent of land within Ashfield Land s ownership, with the exception of a small area of land owned by the Plymouth Brethren Church, situated between the site and the Bowling Club. This site specific policy allocation has largely influenced the development proposals presented for consultation today.
TRANSPORT AND ACCESS Rushden Gateway benefits from excellent connections to the local and strategic highway network, located in close proximity to the A45, which provides easy access to the A14, M1, and wider motorway network. Vehicular access is proposed via a new priority junction with Northampton Road. The carriageway will be wide enough to accommodate two HGVs passing one another, with two metre wide footways on both sides. The care home, which will front Northampton Road, will benefit from direct vehicular access from Northampton Road. Potential off-site pedestrian improvements, including a crossing at the Brindley Close roundabout and a new footway on Northampton Road along the site frontage are being progressed in discussion with Northamptonshire County Council (NCC). A Transport Assessment has been prepared and addresses: The forecast level of vehicular trips that could be attracted to the development Provision of a suitable point of access in to the site Provision of an appropriate level of car, HGV and cycle parking The proximity of the site to existing services within Rushden The suitability of existing pedestrian and cycle infrastructure and any improvements required. A Travel Plan will also be prepared to encourage travel to the site by modes other than the private car. The development will follow the Considerate Constructors Scheme, to ensure best practice, and minimal impact on neighbours, during the construction process. This will also include the requirement for a Construction Management Plan, providing details of delivery times, routes and hours of construction works.
ECOLOGY, SUSTAINABILITY & ECONOMY LANDSCAPE & ECOLOGY The site is located within the Nene Valley Nature Improvement Area, where the aim is to improve ecological connectivity and enlarge existing biodiversity assets. It is also located within Rushden-Souldrop Local Green Infrastructure Corridor and in close proximity to the Nene Valley Sub- Regional Green Infrastructure Corridor and Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Special Protection Area (SPA) and Ramsar site. The development will provide significant economic benefits for Rushden and the wider area, creating a wide range of opportunities. All of the proposed uses for the site are employment generating uses. Cumulatively, it is expected that the development will create in the region of 500-600 new jobs, many of which will be taken up by local people. The proposals are also designed to support expanding local businesses which want to stay in the area but need larger premises. The proposals have been developed to enhance and create an improved environment in terms of landscaping and ecology including opening up areas for public use. SUSTAINABILITY In terms of construction, the scheme will be a sustainable development and buildings will be designed using a fabric first approach. This means using recognised low-carbon materials, having high standards of insulation and air leakage, and incorporating low intensity energy use such as LED lighting. Construction site waste will be sorted and materials recycled where possible. The proposed construction approach will minimise waste sent to landfill. 500-600 JOBS CREATED 240,000 SQ FT TOTAL OF COMMERCIAL SPACE UPTO 1M IN BUSINESS RATE RECEIPTS BREEAM SUSTAINABILITY RATING CERTIFICATION
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Thank you for taking the time to attend our consultation event today. We would like to hear your views on the development proposals on display today. Please let us know what you think of the proposals by completing and returning one of the feedback forms. Please provide your feedback by Monday 26 September 2016. After reviewing the proposals in line with any consultation feedback received, Ashfield Land will be submitting a hybrid planning application to East Northamptonshire District Council. As part of the planning application process the Council will undertake a further round of consultation. The target date for the submission of the application is October 2016. TIMESCALE SEPTEMBER 2016 Public Consultation OCTOBER 2016 Target Planning Submission JANUARY 2017 Target Planning Decision SPRING/SUMMER/AUTUMN 2017 Detailed Design WINTER 2017/SPRING 2018 Target Start on Site CONTACT US We are committed to engaging with the local community. If you would like to find out more about our proposals, please do not hesitate to get in contact with us. www.rushdengateway.com E: rushdengateway@montagu-evans.co.uk Rushden Gateway Consultation Montagu Evans 5 Bolton Street London W1J 8BA
THE PROPOSALS The site will be accessed from Northampton Road. The proposed masterplan for the site includes: The key aspirations of the development of this site include: Regeneration of a currently underutilised site New commercial units of a high quality and contemporary design, to cater for demand from both local and national occupiers Utilisation of prominent location to create a gateway into Rushden, including the construction of a high quality, contemporary supermarket as a gateway feature Creation of significant employment opportunities Ecological enhancements and the creation of a new area of public open space. Supermarket Drive-Through Café Drive-Through Restaurant Retail Units Circa. 15,000 sq m Mixed Employment Floorspace A 60 Bed Care Home. The development proposals have been primarily led by planning policy and occupier demand, however they have also been influenced by the physical constraints of the site, including a gas main which traverses the site from the southwest to northeast, a 20m landscape buffer to the A45 boundary and a Flood Exclusion Zone at the northernmost part of the site. The Flood Exclusion Zone has created an exciting opportunity to create a new area of enhanced public open space with ecological value. This area will also accommodate balancing and compensation ponds, as part of the site-wide drainage strategy. The development proposals seek to bring forward a scheme that is compliant with the adopted Joint Core Strategy allocation and complementary to the existing town centre, generating significant employment opportunities and providing industrial units to meet the needs of existing occupiers in the town that have growth needs unmet elsewhere in the region. The intention is for the development to be brought forward in 2 phases, with the supermarket, drive-throughs, care home, nursery retail and trade counter units and area of public open space/balancing ponds comprising Phase 1, and the remainder of the site being brought forward as Phase 2. With this in mind, a hybrid planning permission will be sought, comprising detailed planning permission for Phase 1 and outline planning permission for Phase 2. SITE PLAN PHASING KEY: STREET HEDGE: ornamental evergreen hedging species such as Box, Privet, Escallonia and Osmanthus. WOODLAND EDGE: native understorey species to Alcott Wood edge including Holly, Hazel, Dogwood, Elder & Dog Rose. WOODLAND BLOCK PLANTING: native whip planting to include nurse trees as well as under storey planting on a 1m grid. SHRUB PLANTING: ornamental deciduous and evergreen shrub and herbaceous ground cover planting, including wildlife attracting species. AMENITY GRASS: cultivated turf to road frontages with larger open spaces seeded to match and / or regularly mown. SPECIMEN SHRUB PLANTING: large evergreen species to provide all year colour and interest such as Phormium, Mahonia, Eleagnus and Escollonia. CONIFER PLANTING: evergreen species to provide all year colour and interest such as Pine. TREE PLANTING: native tree species to be planted to the Open Space areas such as Silver Birch, Field Maple and Rowan with the plot landscape to be planted with more ornamental species such as Cherry, Whitebeam and Amelanchier. EXISTING TREES: to be retained. WILDFLOWER: wildflower meadow seed mix to public open space with woodland edge mix adjacent to Alcott Wood. FOOTPATH: new footpath to link the public open space to allow maintenance of water features, connected to existing footpath network.
WHAT WILL IT LOOK LIKE? Our proposals are based on high-quality design and setting the proposed development in its site context. The following images show a selection of sections and elevations to give you a feel for what it could look like.