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FAQs

We have answered some common questions about the proposed development.

The circa 14 hectare (ha) is located on the western edge of Mile Oak. It is located on the west side of Sutton Road which runs alongside the eastern boundary of the site, and on the south side of Hints Road.

Bloor Homes is a family-owned private housebuilder with a reputation for quality, consistently achieving the highest five-star rating for customer satisfaction in the annual National Housebuilders Federation National New Homes Customer Satisfaction Survey. Over 97% of our customers would recommend us to family and friends.

Find out more at: https://bloorhomes.com/

Bloor Homes is preparing an outline planning application for a landscape-led new neighbourhood at Mile Oak, including:

  • Up to 250 high-quality family and affordable homes.
  • At least 50% would be affordable, including shared ownership homes for first time buyers.
  • Potential to provide accessible homes or bungalows as part of the housing mix.
  • A gas-free development with all homes built to be net zero carbon-ready, including air source heat pumps, solar panels, uprated insultation and EV charging infrastructure.
  • A landscape-led approach to development, with the retention of existing woodland and the majority of hedgerows, alongside the planting of hundreds of new trees and the creation of new woodland areas.
  • Extensive public open space, including a network of walking and cycling routes linking with existing public rights of way.
  • Proposals to reduce speed limits on Sutton Road and Hints Road, alongside the provision of a new toucan crossing on Sutton Road.
  • A children’s play area for new and existing residents.
  • Community orchards and areas of biodiversity enhancement.
  • Bird nesting bricks or boxes in every new home and hedgehog highways between gardens.
  • A package of investment to support local services, to be determined in consultation with statutory consultees such as the local NHS Integrated Care Board, education and highways authorities, and others
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The site has been promoted through Lichfield District Council's emerging Local Plan. However, there have been delays with the production of the Local Plan, a previous draft of which was withdrawn from examination in October 2023, with Lichfield District Council restarting the preparation of a new Local Plan. Lichfield District Council’s Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) assesses the site as “Suitable”, “Available” and “Achievable”.

Since the Local Plan process was restarted, the government introduced a new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) in December 2024. This has significantly increased the number of homes that need to be delivered in Lichfield District from 289 to 753 new homes per annum.

A new grey belt policy was also introduced in the NPPF. This allows development in some areas of green belt, provided certain criteria are met. Grey belt includes land that ‘does not strongly contribute’ to green belt purposes which are set out in the NPPF. The site at Mile Oak is sustainably located on the settlement edge, with existing development to the east and north. It meets the criteria for grey belt land and is being brought forward for a sensitive, landscape-led sustainable residential development on this basis.

The new NPPF also requires that Lichfield District Council is able to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply. This is the amount of land that the Council must identify to ensure there are sufficient deliverable sites for residential development over the next five years. Lichfield District Council currently cannot demonstrate a five year supply of deliverable housing land. In light of this, an outline planning application for grey belt land at Mile Oak will help to contribute to meeting this housing delivery shortfall at a sustainable location.

An outline planning application establishes the broad principles of development, such as access arrangements, illustrative concept layout, number of homes and general extent of development.

If outline planning consent is granted, a detailed planning application called a “reserved matters” planning application would be prepared. This would include more detail such as architecture, materials, detailed layout and landscaping, and would be subject to further consultation with the local community before being submitted for determination. Both outline and reserved matters planning applications are subject to Statutory Consultation carried out by the Local Planning Authority (Lichfield District Council).

The planning application is an outline planning application. This type of planning application sets out the broad principles of development, such as maximum number of homes, an illustrative layout and site access arrangements. Should outline planning permission be received, finer details such as specific house types, detailed layout, architecture etc would be subject to a subsequent further planning application (called a reserved matters planning application). This would involve further consultation with the community.

As the site is being proposed for development as a grey belt site, up to 50% of the new homes would be classified as affordable homes in line with national policy. This will provide opportunities for those on lower incomes with connections to the local area to secure a home of their own. Affordable housing is anticipated to be provided in a mix of affordable rent and shared ownership homes aimed at first time buyers. However, this will be determined in consultation with Lichfield District Council’s Housing Team.

We are happy to work with Lichfield District Council for Local Occupancy Criteria to be applied to the affordable housing provision, ensuring that it is prioritised for people with local connections if this is a priority in community feedback.

Bloor Homes builds bungalows and there is the potential to provide a number of bungalows as part of the housing mix.

We know that sustainability is hugely important to communities across the country. The new homes for Mile Oak will be built to the Future Homes Standard, resulting in a neighbourhood of net zero carbon-ready homes.

The neighbourhood will be gas-free, with all homes provided with air source heat pumps as standard. PV cells (solar panels) will also be incorporated, which along with the use of the latest materials and technique to maximise insulation, air tightness and heat recovery, will create an uplift in energy efficiency of 75-80%. The new homes will incorporate sanitaryware and appliances that meet the highest water efficiency standards.

Electric vehicle (EV) charging points will be provided for all homes with on plot parking, together with access to communal EV charging points for the whole neighbourhood. We are also happy to approach commercial operators with a view to the provision of EV charging at the proposed community car park if there is local demand.

To minimise the impact of construction, we always aim to procure materials from sustainable sources and recycle construction waste as far as is possible.

We are conscious of the ever-increasing importance of ensuring that development is sustainable, protecting and enhancing natural habitats and green infrastructure as much as possible whilst delivering much needed homes for people and families.

The provision of high-quality green public open spaces is at the heart of the landscape-led approach to sensitive development at Mile Oak. Existing mature trees including an area of woodland adjacent to Sutton Road, and the majority of hedgerows, will be retained. Alongside this extensive additional planting and new woodland creation will deliver a significant increase in tree cover across the site.

The Environment Agency’s Flood Map for Planning confirms that the entire site is located within Flood Zone 1 and therefore has the lowest probability of flooding (less than a 0.1% annual chance).

In terms of surface water drainage, there are limited areas of surface water flood risk within the site, with development being directed to areas with the lowest risk of surface water flooding. Surface water on the site will be managed with a sustainable drainage system (SuDS). This is anticipated to include attenuation basins, swales, filter drains and strips, and permeable paving.

Not only will the sustainable drainage system improve surface water drainage on the site, but it will also provide a biodiversity benefit through the creation of new wetland habitats associated with the attenuation basins and swales.

More details about the surface water drainage strategy will be provided in an Outline Surface Water Drainage Strategy and Flood Risk Assessment to be submitted as part of the planning application.

The southern parcel of the development will be accessed via two ghost-island right turn junctions off Sutton Road, linked internally by a central road. The smaller northern parcel will be accessed via a single ghost-island right turn junction from Hints Road.

All three access junctions will be designed in accordance with the parameters set out in Staffordshire County Council’s Residential Design Guide (RDG) for a ‘Major Residential Access Road’, comprising a 5.5m carriageway on the minor arm, along with 10m junction radii and 2m footway provision along both sides of the carriageway. The junctions will be accompanied by uncontrolled pedestrian crossing facilities in the form of dropped kerbs and tactile paving, along with a kerbed central pedestrian refuge facility, in order to tie into the existing footway provision on the opposite side of Sutton Road.

It is envisaged with the increase in pedestrian and cycle movements on Sutton Road and Hints Road, that a number of interventions could be implemented to ensure pedestrian safety. It is currently proposed that the existing 40mph speed limit on Sutton Road would be reduced to 30mph along the entire site frontage. This would be reinforced with new gateway features to the south, incorporating signage and road markings, as well as the potential for a Speed Indication Device.

The primary desire line from the site is envisaged to be to the east, along French Avenue and Watling Street where a range of facilities and amenities can be accessed. In order to support pedestrian and cycle access into the site from the east, the delivery of a toucan crossing facility (signal controlled crossing for pedestrians and cyclists) on Sutton Road is proposed as part of the emerging proposals. The proposed location for this toucan crossing is indicated on the interactive masterplan.

On Hints Road, it is proposed that the existing 40mph speed limit would be extended along the site frontage (currently national speed limit). The new posted speed limit would be accompanied by gateway features, such as markings on the carriageway and Virtually Assisted Signs to notify drivers of the speed at which they are travelling, followed by an interactive measures, for example “please slow down”. These measures would help alert drivers that they are entering a residential area.

Traffic surveys have been undertaken as part of the ongoing promotion of the site through the Lichfield District Local Plan in liaison with Staffordshire County Council, the local highways authority. Technical studies are ongoing and a full suite of surveys and traffic impact assessments will be presented in a Transport Assessment that will form part of the outline planning application.

The planning application will also be accompanied by a Travel Plan to ensure the efficient operation of the site. This will include measures to encourage sustainable travel from the onset of the occupation, as well as suggested ongoing monitoring procedures.

The provision of high-quality green public open spaces is at the heart of the landscape-led approach to sensitive development at Mile Oak. Existing mature trees including an area of woodland adjacent to Sutton Road, and the majority of hedgerows, will be retained. Alongside this extensive additional planting and new woodland creation will deliver a significant increase in tree cover across the site. The neighbourhood will include extensive public open space, including a network of walking and cycling routes linking with existing public rights of way, as well as a children’s play area for new and existing residents. Community orchards and areas of biodiversity enhancement are also proposed.

A key consideration with a planning proposal such as this is to ensure that local services receive the investment they need to accommodate housing growth in the local area. The development will generate investment into local infrastructure such as healthcare and education, and this will be informed by consultation carried out by Lichfield District Council with statutory bodies such as the local NHS Integrated Care Board and the local education authority and will be secured via legal agreement between Bloor Homes and the Council.

To ensure that the impact of construction is kept to a minimum, a Construction Management Plan is being prepared and will form part of the planning conditions of any outline planning permission.

Bloor Homes has created a dedicated website – www.bloorhomesmileoak.com - to provide an opportunity for members of the community to view our emerging plans and provide feedback.

Once we submit our outline planning application, there will be a further opportunity to provide input and comment through the Lichfield District Council’s statutory consultation on the submitted plans. The website will be updated to provide information about how to take part in the statutory consultation.

If outline planning permission is granted, we will then carry out further consultation on matters of detail such as architecture, detailed layout of homes, landscaping etc as we prepare a subsequent reserved matters planning application.

If you would like to be kept updated on this process and opportunities to take part in further engagement, please ensure you opt-in to receive email updates on the project when completing our online questionnaire.