Our Proposals for a specialist retirement community in West Parley

The Site

The site is located to the east of New Road, immediately next to Parley Cross. To the west of the new Lidl food store and to the north of the Bellway Homes residential development.

The site received approval for some commercial uses, new homes and park space in February 2021 as part of a wider masterplan for the whole site.

McCarthy Stone’s proposals seek to incorporate key principles of the approved layout, including:

  • Attractive public green spaces, with access at Parley Cross
  • Pedestrian permeability throughout the site
  • Primary buildings along Christchurch Road to create an active street frontage
  • Retention of the existing tree bank on New Road
  • Vehicle access from the relief road
  • Car parking located in the south of the site, screened from Christchurch Road and New Road

McCarthy Stone is now looking at bringing forward plans that seek to deliver the key principles established as part of the previously approved layout.

Aerial view of the site

Our Proposals

The emerging proposals for the site’s redevelopment comprise of:

Retirement Living

  • A high-quality Retirement Living development featuring around 50 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
  • Shared facilities within the Retirement Living development, include a communal lounge and gardens, as well as a hotel style guest suite for when friends and family come to stay.
  • Car parking provision within the southern portion of the site, comprising around 33 spaces for the Retirement Living, including disabled and electric vehicle charging bays, alongside internal scooter storage space.

Open market housing

  • A new development of approximately 25 open market housing apartments, with communal garden space.
  • Around 25 car parking spaces for the affordable housing units, including electric car charging ports.

Concept Layout Plan

Indicative Aerial CGI of the proposals

Community amenities

  • New public realm areas, including a linear public park fronting along Christchurch Road, as well as a square at Parley Cross crossing and a safe, central meeting space that provides a link through to the wider development and Suitable Alternative Natural Greenspace to the east.
  • A drive-thru coffee outlet and around three commercial units fronting onto Christchurch Road on the ground floor of the Retirement Living space, providing an active frontage and linking to the existing retail space on New Road.
  • Approximately 22 car parking spaces for the drive-thru unit, 6 car parking spaces for the commercial units and 12 EV charging spaces.
  • Appropriate scale and massing for the site, respecting its context and neighbouring properties, stepping down to the Bellway Homes development to the south, whilst creating a focal point for this important corner.

Our plan presents a valuable opportunity to bring forward this important site, delivering commercial spaces as well as meeting a significant local need for both older persons and affordable accommodation.

Our Approach to Design

Layout and appearance

The proposed layout has been carefully considered to reflect the existing planning approval and subsequent changes through the delivery of the relief road and Lidl food store.

Whilst the original approved relief road sought to deliver a pedestrian crossing from the middle of the site, this has been realized further south. The landscaped linear park will provide pedestrian links to the northern crossing point and a route through to the south is also proposed.

The proposed Retirement Living building includes ground floor commercial units on the corner of New Road and Christchurch Road, helping to provide links to the retail area on the opposite side of New Road. It has also been designed to provide a visual gateway into the central square, creating a destination space.

The proposed open market housing apartments have been set substantially back from Christchurch Road whilst also forming a focal point for the corner of Elizabeth Way.  

The drive-thru unit has been designed to ensure all operations can safely take place within the confines of the site, without overspill to the relief road.

An indicative CGI of the proposed development from Parley Cross with proposed materials

Materials

Our proposals for the site have been carefully designed to complement the existing and developing housing in the area, using a mixture of red, orange and grey bricks, with brick detailing to provide visual interest in the street scene.

Scale

A key driver of the proposals is to respect the existing area, and act as a focal point of the corner of corner of New Road and Christchurch Road.

Our proposed development seeks the delivery of two predominantly three-storey buildings, with a four-storey element closest to Parley Cross, behind the tall tree-lined boundary with New Road. A single-storey drive-thru unit is also proposed providing a transition to the wider residential development to the south.

There is a generous distance proposed between the proposed development and the existing housing to the north of Christchurch Road, as well as the new housing development to the south.

Highways and access

Proposed layout plan

Access

The site will be accessible for all vehicles via a new residential road to the south of the site off the Elizabeth Way relief road, as in the approved planning application. The car parking areas for the proposed Retirement Living building, affordable housing building, commercial and retail spaces will all be serviced from the new entrance, with clear delineated parking areas for each use. Pedestrian access will be provided throughout the development, with level entrance into all buildings to maximise accessibility for all users. 

Parking

The proposal will offer on-site car parking, to include:

  • Around 33 spaces for residents, staff and visitors of the Retirement Living building, located along the southern boundary of the site. A mobility scooter storage space will also be included within the building. Parking bays are interspersed with planting, allowing for trees within the courtyard.
  • Around 25 parking spaces for the open market housing units.
  • Around 22 parking spaces for the drive-thru as well as 12 EV charging points and 6 spaces for the commercial units.
  • The proposed development will include disabled spaces and electric vehicle charging points throughout.

McCarthy Stone developments, by their very nature, generate low traffic movements when compared with general market housing. Residents moving to a McCarthy Stone development tend to rely less on their car, and from McCarthy Stone’s experience, many relinquish it altogether after a year or so when they realise that it is no longer essential to maintaining their independence.

Construction Traffic

The timing and routing for construction traffic will be carefully considered with the planning and highway authorities to ensure minimal disruption to the local road network and highway safety.

Outdoor Spaces

The key principles established for public open space through the existing planning permission have shaped the proposed layout and landscape design.

The proposals incorporate the same amount of open space and green space that was approved as part of the outline, and comprise:

  • A ‘point of arrival’ small square from Parley Cross, which will include bench seating and low-level planting
  • A central meeting square
  • A ‘point of arrival’ from the south between the affordable housing and older persons housing apartments, providing a pedestrian permeability through the site
  • A new linear public park with pedestrian walkways that link to the crossing on Elizabeth Way to the Lidl food store
  • Planting throughout the car parking areas and private communal outdoor garden space for future residents
  • The retention of the existing tree bank on New Road

The layout of the proposed development has been carefully designed with planting and trees throughout to provide an attractive outlook for all residential properties surrounding the site.

Residential Amenity

We seek to ensure that all our developments have high-quality outside space for our residents to enjoy. Our developments are designed to blend in with their surroundings. We recognise that high quality gardens and landscaping turn a good development into a great one, and we are pleased that many of our schemes have won awards for their outside space.

Our proposals for West Parley seek to provide gardens and public amenity areas, which will create both a settling and recreational space for the benefit of future residents. The plans feature communal gardens for both the Retirement Living development and the open market housing apartments creating a beautiful outside space for future residents to enjoy. The application will include a comprehensive landscaping strategy.

Have your say

We want to hear your views on our emerging proposals for the project.

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