November 7, 2019
Acting on behalf of Laverick Hall Farm Ltd, Savills Newcastle have submitted planning representations to the South Tyneside Council Draft Local Plan for an ambitious £692m new Garden Community which could provide 3,000 new homes, 3 new primary schools, a 60 bed care home, shops, healthcare and other community facilities, offices, 85 hectares of green infrastructure and 5 hectares of new sports fields.
Laverick Park Sketch Masterplan
The Laverick Park Garden Community development, situated to the south of Fellgate in South Tyneside and bounded by three existing strategic arterial roads (the A184, A19 and A194), proposes a 20 year construction scheme which could create 320 construction jobs every year in addition to 720 permanent on site and off site jobs and a GVA (Gross Added Value) of some £27million into the local economy. The scheme could also provide South Tyneside Council with an additional £41.9m accumulative income over 20 years from New Homes Bonus (NHB), Council Tax and Rates Income.
Yet, the scheme has so far been overlooked in the Council’s Draft Local Plan, which closed for consultation on Friday afternoon. Edward Yuill, Managing Director of Cecil M Yuill Ltd, a partner in Laverick Hall Farm Ltd, commented, “We originally submitted our plans to South Tyneside Council over two years ago. This is one of the most exciting and ambitious projects in the North East Region and would be a landmark development for South Tyneside. It would create a totally self-sustaining new community, built around creating three new villages, all set within outstanding greenspaces, parkland and landscaping which follows Garden Village Principles. Our scheme represents cutting-edge thinking on sustainable development and would deliver considerable socio-economic benefits to South Tyneside.
“We are therefore at a bit of a loss to understand why STC have completely ignored our scheme that could strategically answer much of the area’s housing needs, in favour of 18 smaller piecemeal Green Belt releases totalling 2,391 houses, much of which will result in significant new housing development imposed on the less sustainable Villages of Whitburn, Cleadon and the Boldons which I worry may simply not be able to cope. The Council’s Draft Local Plan also involves the loss of many existing sports fields, open spaces, leisure facilities and employment sites which we consider is completely unnecessary.”
The Laverick Park Garden Community development, to be built over 20 years, follows Garden Village Principles and essentially proposes three new villages, each with its own supporting services and facilities, connected to each other but contained within a highly defined site and the defensible boundaries of major infrastructure. The villages will contain a wide variety of homes designed for different ages including 600 affordable homes, all of which will be built to high quality design standards and surrounded by a diverse landscape featuring extensive walking and cycling routes and links via new public transport to the nearby Fellgate Metro Station.
Crucially, the development is also close to the new International Advanced Manufacturing Park (IAMP) which is expected to deliver 5,200 jobs by 2027 and an additional 3,700 jobs by 2031 all of whom will be looking for housing stock nearby.
← Return HomeEdward Yuill continued, “Laverick Park is an exemplary scheme which surpasses all current planning standards – the 85 hectares of green infrastructure, for example, some of which will shelter the development from the adjacent A19 – represents 44% or almost half the total 192 hectare site. Compare this to the STC Draft Local Plan which actually proposes building on many playing fields, open spaces and existing leisure facilities which are valued by their local communities spread over the Borough, each one of which would cause additional construction traffic disruption.”
“At Laverick Park, each of the three villages will be designed such that key facilities are located within 5-10 minutes’ walk of the dwellings so that residents will be able to carry out many day-to-day trip purposes within the development itself. It will be a truly sustainable living environment of the highest quality. The villages will contain a network of footpaths and cycleways for pubic access whilst we are also proposing a new high frequency ‘Metro Shuttle’ bus connecting Laverick Park to Fellgate Metro Station and a second high-frequency shuttle bus from the Metro Station, through Laverick Park and onto the IAMP.”
“The overall location is perfect for the development whilst the ‘Garden Community’ form of the development, built on the edge of the urban area to provide the best of town and country, takes advantage of the existing infrastructure and would ensure the existing villages of Whitburn, Cleadon and Boldon – the principal locations of the Council’s alternative schemes – are left largely undisturbed.”
“We truly believe construction of new homes at Laverick Park in this location represents the most sustainable strategy for the delivery of housing with South Tyneside and hope the Council will now reconsider the inclusion of the scheme in the next draft of the Local Plan.”