Yateley, Hampshire, UK   Draft Allocation Secured

Site Information

Our latest strategic land investment site is located adjacent to the urban boundary of Yateley, Hampshire, close to the Surrey border. On successful allocation of the site we anticipate annualised returns in excess of 27% over a 4 - 6 year period.

The site consists of agricultural land which is adjacent to existing residential development in Yateley. The site is strategically placed on the western edge of the town with direct access from the town's main distributor road. It is in a sustainable location, being well located to the town's main supermarkets, health care facilities, schools and employment areas, therefore making it a sustainable location for an urban extension.

Our Planning Department Comments

• Hart District Council is at an advanced stage of producing a Core Strategy which will replace most of the existing 2006 Local Plan policies. The Core Strategy sets out the spatial distribution of growth for the area for the next twenty years and seeks to distribute new housing growth across the district with all areas taking some share of the district's needs. In this plan period Yateley must deliver a minimum of 162 homes.
• The Core Strategy relies on a number of major sites to deliver houses and there is always the risk that such sites will not deliver homes quickly and in those circumstances there is the opportunity to promote this site as an early and deliverable release. The Core Strategy is due to be submitted to the Secretary of State in early Spring 2013 with adoption of the plan expected in summer 2013.
• The next review of the Core Strategy (2016-2017) will provide the opportunity to fully promote the site in the context of new growth figures. Historically there has been and continues to be an under supply of homes to demand in the south east. There is very good reason to believe that future housing allocations are likely to be at the same or greater levels than currently.
• The area around Yateley has a network of heathland sites designated for protection which constrain the future direction of growth around Yateley. The southern and eastern areas are constrained by this and to the north are extensive areas of wetlands. This site is situated to the west of Yateley and is therefore not subject to such constraints, making it suitable for future development.
• The site is currently identified as part of a strategic gap between the village of Eversley and Yateley but this policy designation is capable of being challenged and indeed a Planning Inspector has noted that the site is well related to shopping, schools and community facilities and well served by local buses.

Latest Planning Update

As explained in the June 2023 planning update, our outline planning application for a combined care home facility alongside stand alone care cottages that was submitted in 2022 was returned with a total of 9 areas of concern being raised that required addressing before an approval to the application could be given. These areas have all been addressed and our resubmsiion strategry is formulated and ready to be progressed.

In the meantime, the local council are currently reassessing their Needs Assessment that established the need for the C2 care home that was proposed, and they are testing this assessment against national government care home expectations. This work continues and we will proceed with our resubmission once complete.

Alongside this, the new Hart Local Plan will be commencing a plan review in the near future, and we will promote our site to the council for re-inclusion through the review process. The timescales for this review are not yet available.