Housing, Cheshire

This proposed development is for 15 dwellings on the village fringe. The eastern end of the site, with a public right of way, remains as a public open space with a new naturalistic pond, native planting and meadows as well as access to the housing development.

The landscape scheme seeks to integrate the housing development into its landscape setting with a sympathetic transition from the village edge to countryside. The houses are generally located away from the hedgerows and edges of the development site, thus minimising their visual profile from outside and protecting the root zones of the hedgerows and hedgerow trees. Within the development, the landscape proposals seek to create a unified, attractive setting with an avenue of trees running down the access road and beech hedgerows and planting beds within the frontages of houses.

Throughout the scheme, the green infrastructure retains the existing native hedgerows and hedgerow trees. It reinforces this structure by planting new native hedgerows along boundaries, planting a block of native shrubs and trees at the site entrance as well as fruit and native trees within the back gardens. The eastern end of the field is managed to become a species-rich grassland with a pond, protecting the countryside setting and enhancing the wildlife value along the existing public right of way.

The planning application, which included landscape design and a landscape and visual impact assessment, was approved in 2019.