Barrow Hill Development Update

The Parish Council had a recent meeting with Bargate Homes to get an update on the status of the plans for the Barrow Hill development. We were joined by a couple of village residents. Bargate presented their updated plan and outlined the next steps in the process to the group.

In the coming weeks, Bargate plan to run a public consultation asking for input on the updated plan they have for the site. This will address areas such as the layout of the site which has been revised although the total number of homes remains at 40. It will also cover the types of houses and aspects of the design which they aim to be in keeping with the design statement of the village’s neighbourhood plan. All villagers will have an opportunity to give their feedback in this consultation period which is expected to last 7-14 days.

In the meeting, we recommended they ran a public event during this period which Bargate said they would consider. However they have subsequently confirmed that, in their experience, they do not find such meetings to be the most constructive and will therefore run an online consultation. We have also asked Bargate to give the parish council advance notice of the consultation period so that we can alert the village. Bargate have shown some willingness to make limited changes to the plans. For example, because the estate will effectively be private land with a management company in place, they will aim to avoid street lighting and therefore protect the dark skies in the village. Therefore, when the consultation period does take place, please take the opportunity to comment on the updated plan bearing in mind that the principle of building 40 homes has been approved.

In addition to the process to consult on and gain approval for the detailed design and layout of the site, there is a second set of activities to address all of the reserved matters attached to the outline planning permission granted last year. This covers key areas such as surface water drainage and foul sewerage disposal. Ultimately TVBC will be responsible for ensuring Bargate address all of these matters satisfactorily and in accordance with the outline planning permission approval.

While there are still many steps to go on the Bargate planning journey we did ask about potential timescales for starting the build. The current plan suggests a start date for building in early 2028 with the last houses on the market towards the end of 2029.

We hope you have found this update useful.