The Notorious North Place Car Park Could Become Car-free Housing Development
One of Cheltenham’s most popular – and cheapest – car parks could be transformed into a 150-home car-free development.
The North Place car park is known for its cratered surface and inexpensive parking rates, but a new planning application will not include provision for any cars in the centre.
150 eco-friendly new homes for the centre of Cheltenham
Wavensmere Homes, the development partner for the 13,400sqm site, plans to submit an application for a combination of one and two-bedroom flats and three-bedroom townhouses to the planning committee later this year.
All of the homes will have EPC-A ratings and if plans go ahead, they’ll form part of Cheltenham Borough Council’s drive to forge better connectivity in the town, create more jobs and attract younger people into Cheltenham.
Built around a central green
The site will be a residential square with a central green for community use and it’s designed to be car free.
There’ll be a green corridor through the centre to improve biodiversity and create sustainable water drainage systems.
More connectivity is vital for a thriving town
Cheltenham Borough Council, in a recent press release, said that improved connectivity is vital for a thriving town and economy and that there’s already been progress. There’s been improved access from Pittville Park, North Place and the Brewery Quarter to the mixed-use development in the pipeline at the town’s Poundland site.
Lib Dem Councillor Rowena Hay said that good connectivity in a town reduces travel times and increases job opportunities, as well as improving people’s health and wellbeing. Even better is the fact that the new development is designed to be environmentally conscious, using low-carbon materials and aiming to increase biodiversity.
Managing director of Wavensmere Homes, James Dickens, says that the plans will deliver 150 sustainable homes and transform a brownfield site which has become an eyesore over the years. Several proposals to improve the site and change its use have failed over the last decade or so, he added, so the developer is looking forward to submitting its application and moving the project forward.
