Strategic Estate Work at the Kentchurch Court Estate, Herefordshire
We are continuing to work as part of a strategic team of consultants to realise a 10-year Business Plan for the Estate that has been formulated to assist in self-financing the preservation and enhancement of the Estate’s considerable landscape, environmental, ecological and heritage assets.
The Kentchurch Court Estate is primarily made up of agricultural land and residential properties over some 1,922 hectares (4,750 acres) centred on Kentchurch Court, a Grade I listed country house set within the Grade II* listed Kentchurch Court Park and Gardens.
The Estate’s most pressing challenge is holding not fit for purpose and near obsolete housing stock along with other historic buildings without the funds to redesign and refurbish them. Our task is to identify the core elements of the Estate in terms of geography, intended use and synergy with the main house while recognising development/redevelopment opportunities that may exist in non-core locations that can help to revitalise and sustain the core.
Following the creation of a masterplan for the entirety of the Estate, individual projects will involve development ranging from strategic land promotion through farmstead redevelopments, small scale housing sites and Class Q Prior Notifications, to small barn conversions. Redevelopment proposals for the main house and associated outbuildings continue to feature prominently in our on-going role.
Through purposeful and direct contact, the Council’s Planning Officers are fully engaged and entirely aware of the end goal for the Estate. We also continue to liaise with them on a case-by-case basis.
Significant Class Q Approval, North Warwickshire
We are delighted to have secured a substantial consent for the creation of five new dwellings (circa 865 sq m of floor space) within two modern agricultural buildings on a farmstead in North Warwickshire.
The consent is for the maximum number of dwellings and amount of floor space that can be created on an agricultural unit utilising permitted development rights within Class Q of the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. The scheme includes 4 two-bedroom dwellings as well as a single six-bedroom dwelling over two floors.