What do we know about the Birchall Garden Suburb plans?

A joint venture to the east of the town, the site was identified for development in both the East Hertfordshire District Plan and in the draft Welwyn Hatfield Local Plan.

A masterplan for the site has been drawn up, but what can we learn about the development from it?

Here's some key points about the Birchall Garden Suburb project.

Housing

We already know that plans for the Birchall Garden Suburb involve the construction of 1,950 homes, but what kind of properties will they be?

A need for a mix of starter homes, family homes and specialist homes for older people is noted, while East Herts identified the need for four Gypsy and traveller pitches within BGS, while Welwyn Hatfield believes 11 pitches are required.

Proposed housing plans for Birchall Garden Suburb. (Image: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council)

Affordable homes will also be provided within the development.

30 to 35 dwellings per hectare has been suggested for the site.

The neighbourhoods

The masterplan states the development will be made up of the following five neighbourhoods

Birchall Garden

• A carge contemporary garden suburb including secondary and primary schools as well as a local centre that would serve surrounding neighbourhoods
• The neighbourhood is structured around long, continuous and gently curved streets - reminiscent of central Welwyn Garden City

Holwell Park

• Small neighbourhood nestled within new and existing woodland
• Organised around a new local park with streets that emanate from it in a radial and/or concentric manner

Hatfield Downs

• More central WH neighbourhood, incorporating a primary school and community centre
• Neighbourhood structure informed by the site’s geometry and edge conditions (woodland, parkland and buffer)
• Streets emanate from spine road in regular development parcels, suited to semi-detached, terraces and maisonette at mid-densities

Holwell Green

Small residential neighbourhood encircled by significant natural infrastructure (Commons Nature Reserve, Holwell Hyde, Hatfield Hyde Brook, Green Corridor)
• The structure of the neighbourhood is informed by the site’s complex geometry and its various edge conditions (allotments, woodland, parkland and waterway

Commonswood

• Small residential neighbourhood encircled by significant green and blue infrastructure (The Commons Wood, Commons Nature Reserve, Hatfield Hyde Brook and the new Green Corridor)

Transport

Hertfordshire's high levels of car ownership is acknowledge in the masterplan, as is poor east-west connections and high levels of cross boundary commuting, which result in congestion and rail overcrowding. 

"To create a transport plan which aims to increase the highway capacity would have a number of negative impacts," states the masterplan.

Proposed public transport routes. (Image: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council)

"Thus the plan seeks to encourage alternative modes of sustainable transport."

Roads will of course be provided, with the masterplan continuing: "A clear hierarchy of streets is proposed within the masterplan area, to aid legibility and to create a natural sorting of travel modes, with a vehicular focus to spine streets and a walking and cycling focus to residential streets."

Four different road plans can be found within the masterplan.

Road plans for the development. (Image: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council)

As for public transport, bus stops will be provided at regular intervals and will be located close to amenities, and "should be within five minutes walk of all new homes".

Although not specifically mentioned in the plans, photos seem to suggest that a system similiar to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway could be considered.

Amenities

According to the masterplan, "the local centre within the East Herts Birchall Gardens neighbourhood should include shops and a grocery store, healthcare facilities, a children’s centre, community space and the potential for small, flexible employment space", and should be "highly accessible by walking and cycling, and broadly within 5 minutes walk from homes".

However, this will not be immediately provided during the "first phase of the development", but access to nearby amneties in Panshanger and Hall Grove will be available.

A wide-range of green spaces will also be provided by the development.

Plenty of amenities will be provided for those living in the development. (Image: Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council)

Education

"A three-form entry primary school with early years provision and an eight-form entry secondary school" will be part of the East Herts BGS development, as well as "a two-form entry primary school within the Welwyn Hatfield Hatfield Downs neighbourhood".

The exact location of these schools is not confirmed, as they moved in each different proposed design option.

Sustainability

"Sustainable principles should be embedded throughout the design and build process to deliver high quality and considered buildings for Birchall Garden Suburb," according to the masterplan.

The following key characteristics and sustainability guidance is included:

• Development should be designed to target ultra-low energy performance standards, such as Passivhaus
• Development must incorporate Passivhaus Design Principles
• Development must be 100 per cent fossil-fuel free, prioritising heat pump and other highly efficient heating/cooling delivery systems 
• All new development should maximise on-site renewable generation, where the energy use intensity exceeds 35 or 55 kWh/m2/yr for domestic and non-domestic buildings respectively
• All development should include details of how quality of construction is being upheld
• All development regardless of scale should take steps to reduce its embodied carbon
• All development should achieve LETI Band C for its whole life carbon
• Where possible, development should consider reclaimed materials for new build
• New Development must conduct post-occupancy evaluations on all buildings to validate predicted energy consumption

Welwyn Hatfield Green Corridor

The Welwyn Hatfield Green Corridor is located between Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield New Town, runs west to east, and is bound to the south by the A414 Hertford Road.

The Green Corridor is intended to aid the movement of wildlife and 
people, connecting existing green infrastructure in the form of cycleways, bridleway and footpaths, providing a strategic green link between Panshanger Park, Symondshyde Great Wood and Ellenbrook Country Park.

It will be included with the Birchall Garden Suburb site to "help to conserve features of natural and cultural heritage importance, help communities respond to the anticipated impacts of a changing climate, secure overall net gains to biodiversity through the development, and will help mitigate potential impacts on land which is currently not heavily influenced by human involvement".

In addition, "biodiversity and habitat enhancement plays a key role in the masterplan’s landscape framework. The masterplan aims to protect existing habitats and proposes the introduction of new habitats, promoting ecology, biodiversity and wildlife".

To read the masterplan in full, visit www.welhat.gov.uk/downloads/file/752/bsg-masterplan.

What do you think of the plans? Lets us know your thoughts at welwynhatfield.times@newsquest.co.uk.