Marshall’s Yard, Hambrook

Marshall’s Yard in Hambrook is a former industrial site covering 2.94 hectares, which received outline planning permission for 86 new homes and 2,500 square meters of office space in October 2010. Boyer Planning were appointed to assist Taylor Wimpey Southern Counties in securing reserved matters planning consent for the site. Boyer Planning’s appointment covered the planning application and public consultation elements in relation to the site.

Boyer Planning led the community engagement process for the Marshall’s Yard site. The consultation was designed to engage with the local residents on the detailed design of the scheme, and tried to avoid ‘in principle’ objections of any local residents. In conjunction with our in-house marketing team, a full colour A4 leaflet was prepared which detailed the background to the site and the proposals for the reserved matters application. The scheme masterplan was presented as an A3 centre page to the leaflet. A short covering letter accompanied the leaflet, inviting comments to be made via a bespoke e-mail address or by post. The consultation leaflet was sent to over 500 local residents and local groups. A number of comments were received, particularly from residents who lived close to the site with specific concerns relating to the potential impact on their properties. The design team were able to take on board many of these comments, updating the layout to address concerns and removing the potential of resident objections through the consideration of the planning application. The resident consultation in this case allowed many issues to be identified and addressed prior to submission of the application, which has minimised the number of responses the Council has received in relation to the application.