Our proposals

Hopkins Homes are excited to bring forward proposals for residential development in Brantham and hope to submit a full planning application in the winter months of this year. Hopkins Homes’ vision for the future of the low-grade agricultural land at the site includes new homes aligned to local needs, including affordable dwellings, public open space and the provision of a new car park to serve the Church and Nursery.

The site

The site is allocated in part within the emerging Local Plan of Babergh and Mid-Suffolk and currently forms uncultivated agricultural land. The Grade II* Listed Church of St Michael the Archangel and associated Lych Gate lie just beyond the site to the south, forming key heritage assets which the proposals seek to ensure are maintained and respected.

Land adjacent to the site to the south of Brantham village is designated as an AONB and SSSI. The design of the proposed development seeks to maintain the character of the adjacent AONB, through transitioning looser forms of development to the south of the site, and open space provision. The site itself is of limited ecological value and enhancements will be incorporated within the scheme to secure a net biodiversity gain.

The emerging scheme

Hopkins Homes will be bringing forward a proposal for up to 150 high-quality homes that will later form a full planning application. Hopkins Homes’ vision for the site seeks to deliver up to 150 new high-quality homes. The proposals will comprise a mixture of housing types and tenures, including properties for affordable rent and shared owernship, and a broad range of open market homes.

In response to the existing parking pressures on Church Lane, the proposals include the provision of a car park to serve the Church and Nursery. This will deliver much needed parking spaces. There is a single vehiclular access proposed into the site from the A137. The vehicular access will have a visibility splay of 2.4m by 90m. The access location has considered the existing bus stop layby proivsion and access roads on the opposite side of the road.

The proposals for construction of an offsite footway on the south side of the A137 Ipswich Road, which will provide a connection from the development to the existing footway to the West of School Lane. This will provide a coninuous footway to the village and primary school. The development will provide a refuge island crossing facility on the A137 Ipswich Road adjacent to the development, which will provide a safe crossing facility for pedestrians to the bus stop on the north side of the road.

Hopkins Homes will include sustainable drainage measures in the proposals and these will be designed to cope with a one in one-hundred-year storm. This will include an allowance for climate change. A mixture of infiltration drainage solutions will be used on site, to ensure the best sustainability across the site. These will include swales, permeable paving on drive ways and infiltration basins. Additional SuDS features are under review and will be incorporated into the design where feasible.

New landscaping will be provided as part of the development. This includes the planting of new trees and hedgerows.