Frequently Asked Questions

We will be holding a public consultation on our draft proposals in February 2025. The consultation will enable interested parties to view planning documents, including plans, maps, and reports. Residents, stakeholders and other interested parties will be able to ask questions, request additional information and provide their feedback to help shape the plans ahead of the submission of a planning application

The application will be submitted to Bath & North East Somerset Council as the Local Planning Authority. The application will then be reviewed by planning and technical officers at the council. The community will have another opportunity to have their say on the proposals during the council’s statutory consultation on the application. It is anticipated that B&NES Council’s Development Management Committee will decide whether the proposals are granted planning consent.

An application will be submitted following the consultation period and once all responses have been reviewed and considered in detail. We expect to submit an application in early 2025.

Waddeton Park Ltd. is committed to holding an accessible and transparent consultation, which reaches a wide audience of local residents. You can get in touch to ask questions, request additional information, or provide your feedback in a number of ways. You can email us at [email protected], call our freephone number on 0800 699 0081 and leave a voicemail where a member of the team will get back to you, or write to us at FREEPOST TC CONSULTATION (no further address or stamp required).

Please find our more information about Waddeton Park in our ‘About Waddeton Park’ tab.

The site is located at the north west edge of Timsbury village, to the south of Hayeswood Road. The east of the site is bounded by The Avenue, and to the south east by neighbouring properties on Somerset Folly. The western edge of the site is densely lined with trees, with Priors Hill beyond that.

Please refer to the map below for the site location (as indicated by the redline boundary) in context to the village of Timsbury.

The proposals comprise an Outline planning application for up to 120 new homes including 40% affordable homes and a diverse mix of property sizes. Our plans would also deliver a significant amount of publicly accessible open space alongside a large area of parkland planting.

An Outline planning application seeks to establish the principle of development on the site. Our application will include the maximum number of homes which could be delivered on the site, as well as identifying areas where development would be located on the site. Our application will also seek to establish the access points to the site. Other details, include structural, landscape proposals, design principles for the housing, drainage details and details of biodiversity net gain.

The development will comprise 40% affordable housing, in line with B&NES Council policy. This means that there is the potential for this development to deliver up to 48 new affordable homes, helping to make a real contribution to alleviating pressure on the council’s housing waiting list whilst also creating opportunities for young people and families to get on the housing ladder.

Should our Outline planning application be granted permission subsequent Reserved Matters Planning applications would need to be submitted to B&NES Council. These Reserved Matters applications would include further information relating to plot locations and design. There would be further consultation with the local community and stakeholders prior to these applications being submitted, ensuring that residents were able to view and comment on the detailed design of the new homes.

Additional details about the build specifications of the new homes will come forward as part of future Reserved Matters planning applications. This will include details on how the homes will be heated and generate hot water, as well as any renewable energy generation measures proposed to be delivered. However, at this stage, it is expected that EV charging points will be delivered for the new homes, in line with council policy. In particular the application will be supported by a Sustainable Construction Checklist (as required by B&NES) which will set energy and sustainable construction standards for the proposed development.

The primary access for the site will be off The Avenue, which is currently subject to a 20mph speed restriction.

We are keen to ensure that the proposals align with B&NES Council’s aspirations to support biodiversity and tackle the ecological emergency. As such, we have already conducted initial ecological surveys and assessments and used the findings of these to inform our design. These assessments have confirmed that there are no designated sites for nature conservation within or next to the site.

Our initial surveys have indicated that the site has moderate quality habitats for bats as well as offering foraging habitat and moderately suitable habitat for badger setts along the western boundary. No evidence of hedgehogs, dormice, or reptiles was found during our initial assessment work. The three mature trees within the site that are TPO protected will be retained.

We will continue to refine the design of our proposals in response to further assessment and survey findings, however, we are currently proposing an extensive area of parkland and significant additional tree and hedgerow planting, which will help improve the habitat and foraging opportunities for species around the site. Additional enhancement measures will ensure that the proposals will be able to deliver above the 10% biodiversity net gain required by legislation.

The Environment Agency flood map for planning indicates the site is located within Flood Zone 1 and it is therefore at low risk of flooding. A sustainable drainage strategy will be prepared as part of the application to ensure that the proposals would not increase flooding elsewhere.