Introduction
Rainier Developments Ltd is preparing an outline planning application for up to 75 new homes south of Brington Road in Long Buckby.
As well as providing 40% of homes as affordable housing, the proposals will create new public open space, enhance biodiversity and provide supporting infrastructure.
Before finalising and submitting an outline planning application to West Northamptonshire Council, Rainier is inviting the community to comment on the plans and share their feedback. On this website you can find more detail about the vision, emerging proposals read our handy FAQs and provide your feedback.
ABOUT RAINIER DEVELOPMENTS
Rainier Developments are a privately owned land and development company, who work jointly with landowners, key stakeholders, local authorities and developers to create high-quality developments, built with both the present and future needs of local communities in mind.
Rainier have delivered projects throughout the Midlands, and nationally, and understand the importance of engaging with the local community and West Northamptonshire Council to understand the unique characteristics of the site and the needs of the Council. They are committed to make a positive contribution to Long Buckby as a village, and as a place to live.
How Can I Have My Say?
Please submit your feedback by Monday 11th August, so that it can be considered before the plans are finalised and submitted as part of an outline planning application to West Northamptonshire Council.
- You can submit an online feedback form with your comments by clicking here.
- You can email the project team at contact@southbringtonroad.co.uk
- You can Freephone 0808 1688 296 to leave a message and a member of the team will call you back.
Location & Background
The site is located on the south-eastern edge of the village and parish of Long Buckby in Northamptonshire, situated approximately 8km northeast of Daventry and 14km northwest of Northampton
The site currently comprises 3.65 hectares of agricultural pasture.
It is bounded to the east and south by further undeveloped greenfield land, and existing residential development to the north and west.
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Planning Context
What is an outline planning application?
An outline planning application seeks to agree the principle of development on a site including the land use (in this case, residential) as well as identifying a masterplan for the proposed developable area. That’s why you may not see the level of detail in the plans you would expect. If an outline planning application is granted planning permission, this must be followed by a ‘reserved matters’ submission showing more detail, which will be determined separately by the Council.
As part of this outline planning application for up to 75 new homes, Rainier is seeking approval for the principle of development and access only. Permission for all other matters including layout, scale and appearance of the new homes will be agreed with the Council through a further reserved matters application, which will also be subject to further consultation with all stakeholders.
Why does Long Buckby need more homes?
West Northamptonshire Council is required to bring forward sites for housing to meet its needs, which is calculated based on housing demand and population statistics by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Currently, West Northamptonshire Council must meet an annual target of 2,515 new homes.
Long Buckby is designated as a Primary Service Village and its local services and public transport connections make it a sustainable location for housing growth.
Vision & Key Development Principles
The site provides an opportunity to create a sustainable and attractive extension to the village, inspired by the context and local character of Long Buckby while protecting the open countryside and landscape setting to the east.
Multifunctional Open Space
A network of green spaces and corridors, along with proposed attenuation features, will form the framework of the site. These greenways will connect open spaces and habitats providing corridors for the community and for wildlife. Pockets of green space across the site will incorporate and enhance existing landscape features, such as hedgerows, trees and other vegetation. A landscaped edge along the eastern boundary will help to create a gradual transition from development to the surrounding countryside.
Local Movement
Direct pedestrian and cycle connections will be created within and across the site. A key component of this will include a leisure route through the open space, linking to existing Public Rights of Way to the south and north creating connections through to key local facilities. A vehicular site access from Brington Road, along the northern boundary, will enhance vehicle permeability within the site. In addition, several pedestrian access points will support the ease of movement by active modes of travel.
Placemaking
Along the eastern edges of development, buildings will be oriented to overlook the open space to provide an attractive outlook and natural surveillance. Built form and frontages will be more defined and regular along the primary street to create formality and a sense of enclosure, with opportunities for less formal built form to the edges of development. A pocket park with a play space at the end of the primary street creates a focal point, with surrounding built form providing natural surveillance.
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Design Opportunities Plan (click to enlarge)
Emerging Proposals
Our emerging masterplan shows how we think the new homes, access routes and public open space could be delivered within the site.
We are still in the early design stage but currently our initial plans could provide:
- Up to 75 new homes, offering a range of dwelling types, sizes and tenures to help create an inclusive new community.
- A responsive design that reflects local distinctiveness and sits comfortably within the current vernacular and landscape context.
- Homes built to Future Homes Standards.
- A sustainable development, responding to the core principles of the National Planning Policy Framework(NPPF).
- A site that is well connected and designed to encourage and support walking and cycling, with strong links to existing Public Rights of Way, local services and facilities.
- A new landscape edge to the eastern boundary will help to create a gradual transition from development to the surrounding countryside.
- Where possible, existing landscape features will be retained and enhanced within public open space to help development blend positively into the village and character of the site.
Landscape and Ecology
Ecology
The proposed development has been carefully shaped around the site’s existing natural features. Ecologically valuable elements such as species-rich hedgerows, mature trees and the parkland character of the landscape have been retained and integrated into the design. These green features form the basis of the site’s green infrastructure, providing public open space and opportunities to enhance local biodiversity. New tree and hedgerow planting will help to define the boundaries between housing, open space and surrounding farmland, supporting a clear distinction between built and natural environments.
A series of ecological surveys has informed the proposals to ensure protection and enhancement of local habitats. Key measures include the creation of a wildlife corridor across the site, enhancement of hedgerows and significant retention of green space to nurture biodiversity. The drainage strategy prepared as part of this planning application will also support local wildlife through sensitive planting and long-term management. Additional features such as bat and bird boxes, hedgehog houses, log piles and invertebrate hotels will encourage a range of species.
Landscape
Key viewpoints have been preserved within these open spaces to maintain long views across the site, while avenue trees will soften the visual impact of the development from nearby public rights of way. To ensure the new development sits comfortably within its rural setting, development is focused in the north-western part of the site next to existing housing. This approach respects the natural topography and preserves the countryside character of Brington Road as it approaches Long Buckby.
Access & Transport
Transport
Vehicular access to the proposed development will be provided via a new priority ‘give way’ junction on Brington Road. The access road will be 5.5 metres wide, with 6-metre radii at the entrance to accommodate turning vehicles. To improve movement along Brington Road itself, the carriageway will be widened to 5.5 metres along the site frontage, allowing two large vehicles to pass safely and efficiently.
The site is well-placed to support sustainable travel, with a range of services and facilities in close proximity. Most local amenities are within 800 metres, and all are within a 2-kilometre walking or cycling distance. This includes primary schools, bus stops, a railway station, local shops, pubs, places of worship, and medical centres. The convenient location of these destinations encourages future residents to make day-to-day journeys using sustainable transport options.
Pedestrian and cycle access will be prioritised through the provision of a 3-metre-wide shared-use path. This path will run within the site boundary and connect to Brington Road via a dropped kerb crossing located approximately 40 metres west of the new vehicle access. This will link cyclists to the road and pedestrians to the existing footway on the opposite side. Additional pedestrian access points are also proposed, providing connections to the existing Public Rights of Way to the south and west of the site.
Drainage
Surface Water
Surface Current legislation and guidance require developers to manage surface water run-off from new development, to mitigate flood risk to the site and surrounding area and to provide a sustainable means of disposing of run-off from impermeable areas of the site. Surface water run-off from the new development should be managed via the design of a sustainable drainage system (SuDS). The possible drainage options considered for the site include the use of infiltration methods and discharging to a local watercourse or public sewer network.
The preferred method for the disposal of surface water flows is via the use of infiltration techniques. However, the use of infiltration methods may not be suitable due to the characteristics of the underlying strata. Consequently, an alternative strategy of discharging to the local watercourse has also been assessed and is considered the preferred option. This strategy will include attenuating flows before being discharged to the watercourse at a restricted pre-development greenfield rate. It is proposed to incorporate a variety of SuDS features throughout the development proposals, which will provide ecological and water quality benefits through the dilution, filtration and settlement of solid particles.
Foul Drainage
A new foul water drainage network will be constructed to accommodate the requirements of the proposed development. The new network will collect and convey foul water discharge from the development to the existing public sewer network.
Sustainability
The new homes will be designed to achieve the Future Homes Standard 2025, which will ensure they are all-electric, with high levels of fabric efficiency and powered by renewables. This will reduce carbon and energy bills for the residents, whilst also having a positive environmental impact.
- Energy efficiency and heat loss - Homes built to FHS must meet new requirements around energy efficiency. There will be stricter limits on heat loss with a focus on airtightness and improved insulation standards.
- Low-carbon heating systems - Oil and gas fired heating appliances will be phased out in favour of electric heating solutions (air and ground source heat pumps), solar thermal or district heating solutions.
- Zero Carbon Ready - Homes should be built to enable the adaptation to zero operating carbon emissions without having to rely on future ‘bolt on’ products once the UK’s grid is decarbonised.
- Carbon-efficient materials - Embodied carbon will need to be considered as part of design proposals.
- Smart technologies - FHS will also encourages the integration of smart home technologies. These systems could help homeowners manage smart thermostats, electricity generation from PV panels and water heating.
Q&A
We understand that proposals like this raise important questions from the community. That's why we've included answers to some of the most common queries about the planning application.
No, the site is not located in the Green Belt.
Any planning permission is likely to be required to make financial contributions to local schools, healthcare facilities, transport infrastructure and utilities, if requested by the relevant bodies. The level of contributions will be determined as part of the planning process and in consultation with service providers. If the local community or Parish Council has identified specific projects where funding is required then please let us know about them so that financial contributions can be targeted towards local initiatives rather than District wide schemes.
Affordable homes are homes made available via a registered housing provider for social rent, affordable rent, or intermediate housing, such as shared ownership or rent to buy, helping people on to the housing ladder who are unable to afford to rent or purchase a home through other means.
Access to the site for vehicles is proposed via a new junction on Brington Road, on the northern edge of the site. The access will be designed to accommodate all necessary vehicle types and will include measures to support safe and convenient movement for pedestrians and cyclists.
Measures will be put in place to mitigate the impact on local junctions, supporting and promoting the use of active and sustainable travel and limiting the impact of vehicle traffic. As part of the planning application, we will submit a Transport Assessment which assesses the impact of the development on the local highway network. This exercise will use the nationally recognised TRICS database and Census data to accurately forecast and distribute traffic on key local routes and across Long Buckby more widely.
The proposals will meet a policy-compliant mix of parking spaces for each dwelling which is as follows:
- 1 parking space for a one-bedroom home
- 2 parking spaces for a two- to three-bedroom home
- 3 parking spaces for a four-bedroom home
The parking in the proposals will focus on providing parking spaces on private drives but will also include allocated on-street parking where necessary. Unallocated visitor parking will also be provided throughout the development. The exact mix and location will be determined at any future reserved matters planning application.
We will be submitting the planning application later in the autumn.
This will be managed through a Construction Management Plan, which will need to be agreed with and approved by West Northamptonshire Council before development commences.
Have Your Say
We would appreciate your feedback before we finalise our proposals and submit an outline application to West Northamptonshire Council.
Before submitting feedback, please note we have prepared a series of Frequently Asked Questions, which you can view here, that may help answer your query.
You can share your feedback by:
- Submitting feedback via our online form below
- Emailing us at contact@southbringtonroad.co.uk
- Calling our Freephone number on 0808 1688 296
We would be grateful to receive your feedback by to Monday 11th August.
The information you provide will be used only for the purposes of keeping you informed about this project and for understanding public opinion on the project. It will be stored securely until completion of the project, after which this information will be deleted. Your information will only be shared with third parties for the express purpose of keeping you informed of the proposals, and with Rainier Developments and Strategic Land and/or the relevant local authority where there is a legal obligation to do so. It will not be forwarded on to any other third parties. You can contact us at any time to request the deletion of your information. Please contact us at contact@southbringtonroad.co.uk.
Contact Us
If you have any comments or questions or would like a hard copy of any of our consultation materials, please contact us.
Send us a message and we will get back to you as soon as we can: