great western park, didcot, oxfordshire

Great Western Park Didcot

Masterplan for a suburban extension to Didcot

In a nutshell

This is a complex project with a long planning history. A consortium of developers finally gained planning permission in November 2006 to build a large suburban extension on a sensitive greenfield site in South Oxfordshire. The site includes land within South Oxfordshire District Council and the Vale of the White Horse District Council. The development will provide some 3,400 homes. PRP Architects were called in to produce a masterplan by the developers that will effectively increase the size of the town by about a quarter.

Great Western Park, Didcot

Key facts

Location: west of Didcot, Oxfordshire Site size: 180 hectares

Development type: suburban extension

Density: low Timescale: 8-9 years

Start date: to be announced

Developer: Great Western Park Consortium (Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey Strategic)

Urban design and landscaping: PRP Architects

Planning: RPS Highways: RSK

Local authority: South Oxfordshire District Council

The site

This is a large site of around 180 hectares lying on the western edge of Didcot. The land is largely agricultural, and slopes NE to SW. To the north lie the massive cooling towers of Didcot power station. To the south is the Berkshire Downs AONB, clearly visible 1 km away. Didcot, with a population of 23,000, is a sprawling settlement consisting of mainly late 20th century and 21st century housing.

The main Bristol to London rail line runs to the north west of the site. Aims and challenges of project There are many issues involved in creating such a large new community on the edge of a small town. To develop a site in open countryside without mitigation would be very invasive.

Major issues facing PRP in drawing up the masterplan included:

• building on open agricultural land on a greenfield site
• linking to existing late 20th settlements
• developing within view of an area of AONB
• avoiding urban coalescence between Didcot and village settlements

Project development

The plan to build 3,400 new homes represents the largest single housing application in Oxfordshire to date. The developers of the site have been involved in lengthy negotiations with 40 landowners to acquire the whole site. They have also been involved in lengthy discussions with South Oxfordshire District Council, and have made two separate planning applications. Earlier proposals had been rejected by the South Oxfordshire District Council's planning control committee.

PRP masterplan overcame some of the initial objections by paying careful attention to landscaping and using the local vernacular in the design. Head of urban design David Ellis says they have 'bent over backwards' to enhance the landscaping to meet planning requirements. Planning approval was finally granted by South Oxfordshire District Council in November 2006, subject to successful negotiation of Section 106 agreements.

Design proposals

The overall density of the development is low, with two-thirds of the site remaining open space and public realm. The masterplan proposes a spine route running roughly north south which acts as the main thoroughfare through the development. This main spine road will be integrally traffic calmed, and wriggle through the development, rather than running in a straight line. Buildings will help slow the traffic.

Three small nucleated centres are situated along the spine route. These will provide a small amount of retail space but would not be too large in relation to the size of the existing town centre shopping area. PRP urban designers drew on the traditional design and layout of existing rural settlement patterns, seeking to provide landscaping that had some relevance to local geography.

Residential layouts for Great Western Park, Didcot

They looked to existing towns in villages in south Oxfordshire such as Dorchester, Harwell and Wallingford to draw up benchmarks for the visual appearance of the new development. Some of these key characteristics include:

• red brick
• flint stone walls
• pitched roofs
• local paving materials

One issue was whether to screen the new settlement entirely from surrounding countryside or not. PRP opted for a compromise in which views would open up to show glimpses of roof tops, much as a village spire would be visible over trees.

Design detail

• average density of 38 dwellings per hectare
• a network of public green spaces totalling approximately 153 acres
• a broad mix of housing types including detached, semi-detached and terraced houses, plus apartments
• a neighbourhood centre with provision for community centre, indoor sports hall, primary healthcare provision and local shops plus two local centres
• a network of cycleways, linking Great Western Park with existing jobs and facilities in and around the town hops
• higher density housing (up to four storeys) is planned along a central Village Street with larger, lower density dwellings (no higher than two storeys) along the site's perimeter.
• four green wedges of public open space cross the site and enable access to the surrounding countryside.
• a hierarchy of roads:

1. spin road
2. secondary roads shared with cycleways and footpaths
3. Green lanes

Amenities

As well as 3,400 new homes, the development will include one secondary and two primary schools, three neighbourhood centres, a pub restaurant, playing fields and a sports centre.

Sustainability

Comments from David Ellis PRP 'There is no doubt, if this process was being started now, there would be a far higher requirement to mitigate against the effects of climate change. Biggest challenge creating a new urban landscape with local character, and not yet another nowhere suburban sprawl.' 'The other challenge is working on spaces at up to 1:500 - placemaking is as much to do with detail as the space defining blocks.'

Other examples of masterplanning by PRP can be seen on their website