North Northallerton Development Area - Hambleton District Council

North Northallerton Development Area – Masterplan Framework & Design Guidance
illustrated in the DPD. These key factors and changes are
summarised below.
Flood risk was a significant issue. This meant that a
large part of site NM5A (all proposed for residential
development in the DPD) could not be developed and
also that significant parts of other development sites
were needed for water attenuation, significantly reducing
the development area.
The decision was taken to relocate the east-west route
further south. This would reduce its visual impact on the
open countryside in the Brompton Gap, especially when
seen from residents to the north. Locating the road at the
point where the Brompton Beck and railway line were
located closer to each other would also result in a
shorter bridge span being required, thereby saving costs.
A short span solution was preferred because the beck
cannot be culverted.
The alignment of the east-west route was also made
more circuitous as it passed through the residential area.
This was a deliberate attempt to reduce vehicle speeds,
reduce severance and improve placemaking and
residential amenity. This thinking is in line with the
guidance in Manual for Streets 2.
Whilst the southern part of the Brompton Gap area (site
NM5G) remains the focus for open space recreation
facilities there was a need to distribute smaller open
spaces within an open space framework across the
NNDA, to provide for local accessibility, improved
placemaking and to address flood risk issues.
It was considered, following a review of social
infrastructure, that there was a need to address
anticipated spatial shortfalls in the NNDA by providing
two ‘community hubs’ for local shops and services.
These would be for local needs only and would not
challenge the primacy of Northallerton Town Centre, to
which strong links were also proposed.
The northern edge of the development from the
Allocations DPD , has been re-considered in order to
allow for better integration with the surrounding
landscape, for example by following contours and field
boundaries. This has also allowed for the shortfall in
housing numbers, resulting from the undevelopable
areas due to flood risk, being partially addressed in order
to maintain the housing numbers set out in the
requirements and in the DPD.
The viability advice provided by the consultant team also
challenged the extent of employment land included
within the Allocations DPD. This appeared somewhat
larger than the expected level of demand, especially in
the current economic circumstances, for the projected
masterplan period. Altering the balance between
employment and residential also allowed for the shortfall
in housing numbers resulting from other factors to be
addressed. There still remains a significant extent of
employment provision in the masterplan. The designers
also planned the interface between the two uses in
greater detail, allowing for better residential amenity after
considering integration with Standard Way employment
park and the position of existing heavy manufacturing
uses.
5.13 All of the above changes were discussed and agreed with the
Steering Group and a Preferred Masterplan Framework was
produced. This plan incorporated all the above changes and
provided an indicative block layout for residential and
employment uses, a recommended alignment for the east-west
route and an open space framework. This Preferred Masterplan
Framework included three ‘inset variations’ for both the northern
‘countryside edge’ and the ‘central greenspace’ (i.e. the
Brompton Gap). These insets plans explored different
approaches to the issues described above in these areas.
5.14 The Preferred Masterplan Framework was thoroughly tested by
the consultant team. This included an assessment against the
ten project objectives, a viability and deliverability assessment
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