The Proposals

The Site

Site location plan

The site is located to the north of the B1038, Hare Street Road and is adjacent to an existing residential development to the east, off Aldridge Way. The plan to the right indicates the proposed location of the new surgery in the context of the wider site.

The site comprises an undeveloped field parcel, which is not covered by any statutory landscape,  environmental, or other designations. In terms of local planning policy context, the site lies outside of, but immediately adjacent to the settlement boundary of Buntingford, as defined by the adopted East Hertfordshire District Plan October 2018. The site is located within a broad local policy area designated on the Proposals Map (2018) as the ‘Rural Area Beyond the Green Belt’, which covers most of the northern half of the district, as Buntingford is the only town in East Hertfordshire which does not lie within the Metropolitan Green Belt.

The current East Hertfordshire District Plan was adopted in 2018 and so must now be reviewed by the Council, who are also required by national policy to designate and maintain a rolling five year supply of deliverable housing land. At the present time, the Council is unable to demonstrate a deliverable five year supply of housing land and the existing Plan is also over five years old. Therefore for the purposes of determining planning applications in the district, the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) 2023 takes pre-eminence, and the current East Hertfordshire policies governing the scale, location and delivery of new housing are deemed to be out of date. Under these circumstances, this engages the presumption in favour of sustainable development, as set out in the NPPF, and all development proposals which comprise sustainable development, must be determined on their own merits.

A new doctor’s surgery for Buntingford

CGI of the proposed new surgery

CGI of the proposed new surgeryry

CGI of the proposed new surgeryry

Doctor's Surgery Site Layout

The new Buntingford Surgery will be constructed prior to the first house being built on the land as part of an infrastructure first approach by Taylor Wimpey. Subject to receiving planning permission from EHDC, the new surgery can be built and open in January 2026 prior to the expiry of the existing lease.

The building will be BREAAM Excellent meaning that the building will be highly sustainable, energy-efficient and have a minimal impact on the environment.

Our objectives in delivering a new Doctor’s Surgery for Buntingford are to:

  1. Enable the practice to extend its General Medical Services and address current, and future, capacity issues by recruitment of further clinical staff including GP and nursing staff.

  2. Provide the space to extend the range of services provided - for example, supporting people with long term conditions, community health services, mental health support, as well as access to social prescriber support and Citizens Advice Bureau.

  3. Provide the space to enable better multi-disciplinary teams (MDT) working across broader community functions – including facilities to enable MDT meeting with palliative care teams and district nursing teams, child health visiting and safeguarding teams, as well as the PCN community of allied health professionals.

  4. Support the practice to extend its capacity as a training centre for the wider system – GPs, nurses/HCAs and Primary Care Network (PCN) staff training.

  5. Support wider system improvements by ensuring patients can be cared for in the right setting, avoiding attendance at A&E where possible (improving the economic and efficient use of acute hospital services).

  1. Supports practice aspirations to extend place-based services by providing services closer to patients’ homes. Improved premises will allow our patients to access our local surgeries rather than travelling.

  2. Provide space to host a PCN shared acute illness/respiratory hub – providing local access to implementation of the current trial of shared PCN acute on the day presentations including respiratory illness.

  3. Provide space for secondary care clinics in a local setting – extra room capacity, especially at quieter times such as the weekends, could allow potential use of the premises for secondary or intermediate care clinics to be provided locally on site.

  4. Provide a site suitable for primary care for the next 30 years – the site should be future proofed by allowing now for space for further extension. This will require a site allowing future extension of the building footprint without affecting parking provision.

Our Proposals

The proposed development would deliver a new surgery which will form a key part of a new community in the east of the town, together with approximately 200 new homes, public realm enhancements, active travel solutions and ecology improvements.

We are bringing forward a hybrid planning application seeking detailed planning permission for the new surgery and outline permission (permission for the principle of development) for the new homes.

An illustrative masterplan to show how the proposals could look is shown to the left.

New homes

Illustrative housing types

We are bringing forward outline plans to deliver approximately 200 new homes, including 40% affordable homes and a variety of house types to meet a range of needs.

Details, such as the design of the homes, would be agreed through subsequent reserved matters application(s) and the images below provide an illustrative example of how these new homes could look.

Sustainability

We are committed to becoming net zero in our operations by 2035 and across our value chain by 2045, five years ahead of the UK’s target.

Taylor Wimpey was the first UK homebuilder to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard for our overall approach to carbon management, including our policy, strategy and verification of our data and processes. We remain the only volume housebuilder to hold this standard.

It is anticipated that, in 2025, the Government will make a major update to the standards for new build homes - the Future Homes Standard (FHS) - designed to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The ultimate goal is to help the UK reach its national net zero target.

Taylor Wimpey is testing a wide range of new technologies and fabric solutions in five trial prototype homes to help provide significant insight into how to address major industry challenges to deliver zero carbon ready homes in readiness for the incoming FHS changes. The aim is to find solutions to build high quality, low carbon homes. The crosssection image below shows an example of the specifications that we are incorporating in to achieve Zero carbon ready homes.

Open space, planting and landscaping

Building on the Government’s biodiversity net gain commitment, Taylor Wimpey developments are designed to ensure that they provide more habitat for wildlife than before we started work.

The development proposals provide an opportunity to deliver significant enhancements for wildlife, including the provision of new species-rich native habitats such as wildflower grassland, wetland features, trees, scrub and hedgerows. Providing informal pedestrian routes through these habitats would also provide opportunity for new and existing residents to experience nature.

All suitable sites include features such as:

Bat and bird boxes - nesting boxes for various species of bats and birds that can be installed on homes and in trees

Native tree and shrub planting - the use of native species that are favoured by our wildlife

Retention of existing trees and hedgerow wherever possible - established trees and hedgerows support and provide homes for a wide range of wildlife

Bug hotels - habitats made from a variety of natural materials, such as bamboo canes and dead wood, that provide a safe and cosy shelter for insects

Hedgehog highways - holes cut into the bottom of fences to allow hedgehogs to travel freely through gardens

Pollinator-friendly planting - species of flowering plants that attract pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies

Bee bricks - construction bricks with nesting holes for solitary bees, which can be built into homes or used as part of features around gardens and green spaces

Pollinator pathways - connected areas of green space planted with flowering plants that attract pollinators

Illustrative landscape features

Access and sustainable travel

The site is well located to a range of local facilities and services within Buntingford, and the emerging masterplan for the site will seek to encourage sustainable travel to these facilities via a range of modes. These include three new pedestrian connections to the site, including a full upgrade of the bridleway that crosses the site such that it is accessible for all.

Walking and cycling links will be available via Hare Street Road and adjacent residential developments, which provide direct connections to the wider pedestrian and public right of way networks, with multiple points of access to the site and GP surgery from the north, west and south.

The following measures are proposed:

  • Three pedestrian accesses to enhance walking links with Buntingford to the west of the site

  • A footway link onto The Causeway at the northern edge of the site by way of maintaining and upgrading the PRoW Buntingford 013 that runs north-south through the centre of the development site

  • A link into the existing footway at Howard Lane, adjoining the western boundary of the site

  • Extension of the footway along the B1038 Hare Street to provide access to the south-western corner of the site and to provide a clear link to the GP surgery, which will also be suitable for use by cyclists and connect to new bus stops.

Cycle parking will be available to the front of the site. New bus stops on Hare Street Road are also proposed, minimising walking distances to the surgery, with the Herts Lynx service also able to serve these stops and the surgery. Car parking will also be available at the surgery, including conveniently located blue badge parking, parent and child spaces and drop-off areas adjacent to the entrance.