07771 649 612
joe@highlightplanning.co.uk
Former Llancarfan
Primary School
Consultation
.
.
Introduction
Highlight Planning are pleased to present their plans for the residential redevelopment of the former Llancarfan Primary School.
The former school has been sold by the Council to enable its future development.
Our plans include the retention and sensitive conversion of existing buildings on site to provide three homes along with three new build energy efficient homes in the school grounds in the position of the existing prefabricated school buildings and car park. Landscape planting, sustainable drainage systems and biodiversity enhancements are to be provided throughout the site demonstrating a commitment to providing a high-quality and sustainable development.
The proposals will be presented to the Community Council at their Full Council meeting in the Village Hall and via Zoom at 7.30pm on Thursday 18th April. A public consultation drop-in event is being hosted by Highlight Planning at the Village Hall between 2 and 7pm on Monday 22nd April. All those interested in the proposals are invited to attend.
We hope you support us with the redevelopment of the site. Once you have reviewed the proposals, please provide feedback via email or post at the address below:
Highlight Planning
Office 33
14 Neptune Court
Vanguard Way
Cardiff
CF24 5PJ
We would welcome any comments you have on the plans by 30th April 2024.
The Site
The school site is located within the settlement of Llancarfan on the eastern side of the village It contains two main buildings with pitched roofs, two flat roof prefabricated buildings and small outbuildings located between the main buildings. The size of the site is approximately 0.4 hectares.
The site sits within an elevated position within the village. The topography of the site slopes downwards from the east to west.
Development Proposals
The Vision for the site is to bring the vacant school site back into use by creating a sustainable development which responds to local character with a sensitive approach to landscape and the site’s historic context whilst delivering biodiversity enhancements.
The proposal seeks to bring the two main former school buildings back into use and optimise the efficiency of the site with new build dwellings within the grounds. The new build dwellings are to be built into the slope and are proposed to present as being 1.5 storeys in height from street level in order for scale and mass to complement the existing school buildings to be retained. The new build dwellings are proposed to have a flat sedum green roof element to allow broken views to be retained across the site.
Each dwelling will have private amenity space to the rear separated by new hedgerow planting, rather than close boarded fences to help retain the rural context of the site. Each dwelling is served by three dedicated vehicle parking spaces.
Sustainable drainage systems will be incorporated to slow down and reduce the rate of rainwater run-off compared with the existing situation. Landscape planting will be provided to the site boundaries and biodiversity enhancements such as bat and bird boxes and reptile hibernacula will be provided.
A presentation of the plans with images of the proposed houses can be seen here.
FAQs
Why is this consultation being undertaken?
The consultation is being undertaken to present our plans for the site to the community and inform our proposals for a subsequent planning application.
Why is the development needed?
The school site has stood vacant since its Council closure in 2021. The Council decided to dispose of the site and prepared a report identifying its development for residential use as being acceptable. Our proposals will bring the site back into use and provide a sustainable future for the existing school buildings in a sensitively designed way whilst providing a range of housing. The proposals will also take away the elements of the site which detract from the character of the area (such as the prefabricated buildings, more contemporary additions to the main school buildings and large areas of hardstanding) and enhance the site's wider context.
What has informed the proposed development to date?
The proposals have been informed by national and local planning policy and feedback provided by the Council’s Planning Officers. Whilst the Council’s LDP indicates the site should provide at least 9 homes, our project team consider that a lower density sensitively designed scheme of 6 homes is more in keeping with the surrounding area and its historical context.
The site is relatively unconstrained from an environmental perspective given its previous use as a school. Surveys and assessment work have been undertaken by specialist consultants with respect to heritage, ecology (including bats), drainage, trees and ground conditions which have fed into the proposals and all confirm that there are no in-principle constraints to the development of the site.
How will the development affect local services?
The effect on local services will be considered by the Council as part of their determination of the planning application. A financial contribution by the developer towards public open space provision is anticipated to be provided for use within the locality.
How will the local highway network cope with cars associated with the development?
The proposals have been informed by technical assessment work undertaken by Apex Transport Planning. The redeveloped site will have a lesser highway impact compared with its previous school use and the proposals will have an acceptable impact on the local highway network.
How has drainage been considered?
A Drainage Strategy will be submitted alongside the planning application prepared by specialist drainage engineers, Vale Consultancy. The proposals will also be subject to mandatory sustainable drainage regulations. The development will provide a betterment and an improvement in the treatment and control of surface water run-off from the site, as well as promoting SuDS features that improved biodiversity. This application process is highly regulated and will assess flood risk, run-off and ground water. The SuDS and SAB solution will ensure improvements to the current scenario where run-off rates from the site are completely uncontrolled. The design of the various SuDS components is subject to the soakaway test results, which are being undertaken over the course of April.
The foul flows generated from the proposals are comparable to the previous school use of the site and the development will improve capacity in the existing combined network by removing run-off from impermeable areas that currently discharge to the sewer network unrestricted. A detailed drainage assessment has identified run-off from areas of hardstanding that can potentially be taken out of the network
The design process and regulations are an opportunity to improve drainage capacity issues and not worsen them, so in this respect development of this brownfield site enables the developer to improve on the current unregulated surface water discharge.
What are the benefits of the development?
- Regeneration benefits associated with improvements to the appearance of the building along with the removal of a number of ad-hoc and contemporary extensions/outbuildings which detract from the character of the area;
- Re-use of an under-utilised building which, if left undeveloped, would continue to deteriorate and has the potential to detract from the character of the area;
- Providing high quality sustainably designed homes suitable for families which will contribute to addressing the housing needs of the area;
- Provision of additional landscaping, biodiversity enhancement and surface water resilience;
- Development with climate change resilience at its heart - utilising existing buildings where possible and using sustainable energy efficient design to achieve EPC A rated new dwellings.
What about traffic, noise and dust during construction?
The impact of construction activities will be factored into the planning process. The project team will prepare a Construction Management Plan in order to reduce the impact of construction on local residents.
When will the development start and houses become available to purchase?
Planning permission and planning conditions need to be approved before the development can start. We anticipate that development will start on site in late 2024 with the first homes becoming available to purchase in 2025.
What are the next steps after this consultation?
The project team will review all comments received as part of the consultation to inform the planning application to be submitted to the Council later in the Spring.
Once the application is submitted, the Council will undertake a further consultation prior to them determining the application. Following the determination of the application, planning conditions will be discharged and construction work will commence.
How to provide your Comments
We hope you support us in the development of this site. Please provide feedback via email or post at the address below:
Highlight Planning
Office 33
14 Neptune Court
Vanguard Way
Cardiff
CF24 5PJ
We would welcome any comments you have on the consultation by 30th April 2024.
Comments and information received as part of this consultation will not be used for any purpose other than for consultation purposes relating to this potential development. Whilst your comments may be referred to within our submission as part of the planning application, names will be redacted from responses and we do not share any information provided with third parties outside of the project team and this process.