News Englishman's home is his gym
May 2020

Erik Pagano

An Englishman’s home is his gym as well as his castle

It turns out that an Englishman’s home is more than her or his castle. Lockdown has shown us that our homes double up rather well as gyms, offices, online schools and even pubs for those Saturday night Zoom quizzes.

News Englishman's home is his gym

Erik Pagano

Luckily, the government understands how crucial building new homes is for the country’s well-being and is amending regulations allowing planning to continue online. Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Bovis are among the first companies to return to work as the restrictions on lockdown are slowly being eased.

At Landform, work has been going on more or less as normal. We have two big new projects underway, which together would provide around 500 or so new homes, 50 self-build plots and a care home.

The first site we are promoting is at Bersted, on the north-western edge of Bognor Regis, for a mix of residential and employment uses. The 15.5ha (38 acre) site is suitable for around 230 new homes, open public spaces, sports facilities, and includes modernising and expanding the Chalcroft Horticultural Nursery with new facilities and a café as well as a new 6,500 sq ft furniture sales outlet for St Wilfrid’s Hospice.

News Bersted Potential Application Image 8

Bersted – Potential Application

The Bersted site forms part of a wider strategic allocation being promoted with the Church Commissioners and Langmead Farms for around 2,500 new homes in total. A planning application is due to be submitted in mid-2020 and a number of housebuilders are already showing interest in the site.

Our second project is the 17ha (42 acre) at Martlesham in Suffolk for a mix of housing, self-build housing plots and a retirement village for the over 55’s. We are hoping for planning permission for approximately 250 homes and 50 self-build housing plots, an area of expertise at Landform.

The Martlesham site is being promoted through the emerging East Suffolk District Council Local Plan, which hopefully will be adopted in late 2020, after which it is intended that detailed development proposals will be submitted.