The site for the proposed development extends to approximately 19.55 hectares (ha). It is located on the east side of Coleshill. Maxstoke Lane forms the northern boundary of the site, while the western boundary is formed of existing residential development in Coleshill, including the existing care facilities operated by Father Hudson’s Caritas.
Part of the site is occupied by a number of dilapidated storage sheds and has been used by previous tenants to dispose of various items. The remainder of the site is agricultural land and grassland. There is a Public Right of Way which bisects the site east-west. This will be retained and enhanced as part of any development proposals.
Sustainably located on the settlement edge, the site provides excellent access to a range of local services within a short walk, including the local primary and secondary schools, shops, pubs, restaurants and local healthcare provision. There are also public transport connections within easy access of the site.
Coleshill Conservation Area is located to the west of the site, and the proposed development will be designed to take this into account.
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Based in Coleshill, Father Hudson’s Caritas provides a range of services to people across the Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, an area encompassing Oxford, Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry, Warwick, Worcester, and Wolverhampton. They work with people from all walks of life, offering friendship, care, and support.
Caring for older people and adults with disabilities has been a fundamental part of their work since 1985. The charity’s Care Home, which is based in Coleshill, has been described as a very special place. The charity also provides services include supported living, St Catherine’s Bungalows and Coleshill Day services for adults with disabilities.
To help address a shortfall in local housing delivery, family-owned, five-star rated housebuilder, Bloor Homes, is preparing outline proposals for a sensitively designed development of high-quality homes set within extensive new public parkland south of Maxstone Lane on the east side of Coleshill. The development will also provide a new care village operated by Coleshill-based charity, Father Hudson’s Caritas.
The emerging outline proposals include:
- Up to 240 high-quality homes in a range of styles and tenures.
- A significant proportion of the new homes will be provided as affordable housing in a mix likely to include homes for social rent and shared-ownership homes.
- A housing mix which could include accessible homes such as bungalows.
- A new care village owned and operated by local charity, Father Hudson’s Caritas.
- The majority of the site area retained as extensive areas of new landscaped public open space offering a range of outdoor recreational opportunities.
- Open space proposals include a new country park for the wider Coleshill community to enjoy and connect with nature.
- A design approach respecting the wider context of Coleshill and the neighbouring conservation area.
- A package of infrastructure investment to support and expand local services as required through consultation with statutory organisations such as the local NHS, education and highways authorities.
To address the national housing crisis, the Government has set a target to deliver 1.5 million new homes by 2029. These homes should be delivered in sustainable locations. In December 2024 the Government published a revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which set increased housing targets for local authorities across England, including North Warwickshire.
The current Development Plan for North Warwickshire has fallen out of date and so the Council is preparing a new Local Plan for the area. Regulation 18 consultation on a review of the Local Plan is currently underway, however it is anticipated to be some time before a new Local Plan is adopted. The site is being promoted for inclusion in the Local Plan review and as such was put forward to the council through their call for sites in 2024. While the site is being promoted through this new Plan, planning applications need to be considered against the current Development Plan as well as national planning policy.
The NPPF requires Local Planning Authorities to identify sufficient land to meet their housing requirement. At all times they should be able to demonstrate a 5-year supply of deliverable housing land. If a supply of 5 years cannot be demonstrated, a presumption in favour of sustainable development applies. North Warwickshire can currently demonstrate housing land supply of just 2.2 years.
Coleshill is a market town in North Warwickshire Borough. It is identified as a sustainable Category 1 settlement within the North Warwickshire Local Plan. It has a wide range of facilities alongside an efficient and well-connected public transport network, providing linkages between the town and Birmingham, Cambridge and Leicester. These factors, alongside the Borough’s housing supply position, make Coleshill a suitable location for development that will positively contribute to North Warwickshire’s housing land supply.
In light of the site’s sustainable location and the council’s current shortfall in housing land supply, progressing an outline planning application alongside the ongoing process of preparing an updated Local Plan for North Warwickshire will ensure housing delivery at an early stage in the plan period, contributing to addressing the delivery shortfall.
An outline planning application establishes the broad principles of development, such as access arrangements, illustrative concept layout, number of homes and general extent of development.
If outline planning consent is granted, a detailed planning application called a “reserved matters” planning application would be prepared. This would include more detail such as architecture, materials, detailed layout and landscaping, and would be subject to further consultation with the local community before being submitted for determination. Both outline and reserved matters planning applications are subject to Statutory Consultation carried out by the Local Planning Authority (North Warwickshire Borough Council).
The planning application is an outline planning application. This type of planning application sets out the broad principles of development, such as maximum number of homes, an illustrative layout and site access arrangements. Should outline planning permission be received, finer details such as specific house types, detailed layout, architecture etc would be subject to a subsequent further planning application (called a reserved matters planning application). This would involve further consultation with the community.
While house types would be determined at the reserved matters planning stage, we have provided imagery of existing Bloor Homes developments on this website to provide an idea of the types of high-quality homes we build.
Bloor Homes also builds bungalows within its developments, and there is scope to do so at Coleshill if there is local demand.
As the site is being proposed for development as a Grey Belt site, up to 50% of the new homes would be classified as affordable homes in line with national policy. This will provide opportunities for those on lower incomes with connections to the local area to secure a home of their own. Affordable housing is anticipated to be provided in a mix of affordable rent and shared ownership homes which would appeal to first time buyers. However, the precise mix will be determined in consultation with North Warwickshire Borough Council’s Housing Team.
This is for North Warwickshire Borough Council to determine. However, we are happy to work with the council for them to apply Local Occupancy Criteria to the affordable housing provision, if this is a priority in community feedback. This would see affordable housing prioritised for those with a local connection.
Bloor Homes often builds bungalows within its developments, and there is scope to do so at Coleshill if there is local demand.
At Bloor Homes we want to deliver homes that are sustainable now and contribute to a cleaner, greener future.
We know that sustainability is hugely important to communities across the country. It is anticipated that the new homes at Coleshill would be built to be net zero carbon-ready.
The neighbourhood will be gas-free, with all homes provided with air source heat pumps as standard. Solar panels will also be incorporated, which along with the use of the latest materials and technique to maximise insulation, air tightness and heat recovery, will create an uplift in energy efficiency of 75-80%.
The new homes will incorporate sanitaryware and appliances that meet the highest water efficiency standards.
Electric vehicle (EV) charging points will be provided for all homes with on plot parking, together with access to communal EV charging points for the whole neighbourhood.
To minimise the impact of construction, we always aim to procure materials from sustainable sources and recycle construction waste as far as is possible.
Father Hudson’s Caritas is a Coleshill based charity and the landowner of the proposed development site. The proposed development will expand its care provision for adults with disabilities and older people through the inclusion of a nearly 4 acre care village as part of the development.
Father Hudson's Caritas are a local social care charity who have been part of the Coleshill community for nearly 125 years. As part of the proposed site, they are proposing to develop further residential and supported living provision for adults with disabilities and others needing social care. Father Hudson's Caritas’ existing care facilities include St Catherine's Bungalows, St Joseph's Care Home, Coleshill Day Services and St Vincents Supported Living facilities. These are already an established part of the local community.
As part of our landscape-led approach to the proposed development, existing mature trees and the vast majority of hedgerows will be retained, alongside extensive planting of new vegetation.
Environment Agency Flood Maps show that the site is located within Flood Zone 1 and is therefore at low risk of flooding from rivers and the sea. Areas shown to be at risk of surface water flooding are located outside of the proposed development area and are associated with existing low-lying land and watercourses. These areas will not be affected by the proposed development.
The development will include a new, surface water drainage system designed to manage rainfall in a controlled and sustainable way. This system will collect surface water from the development and direct it to a series of detention basins, which temporarily store water during heavy rainfall before releasing it slowly. This approach ensures that runoff from the site is carefully controlled and that there is no increase in flood risk to neighbouring land. Surface water from the development will be discharged at restricted rates to the existing watercourse network located in the lower area of the site, in line with current drainage standards. The proposed drainage strategy will ensure that water is managed safely on-site during extreme rainfall events.
In addition to managing surface water drainage, the sustainable drainage features such as the detention basins have the added benefit of providing new more varied wetland habitats with appropriate wetland planting, further enhancing biodiversity within the site.
Primary vehicular access will be provided from Maxstoke Lane to the north via a simple priority junction, in addition to a connecting pedestrian footway which will provide access to the local facilities and amenities in the centre of Coleshill. The design of the junction including the necessary visibility splays is being informed by recent traffic survey data that has recorded speeds and volumes of passing vehicles.
A secondary access for pedestrians and cyclists will be provided from Gerards Way, which will also provide access for emergency vehicles should it be required. Gerards Way is a quieter lower speed environment and provides a more direct access for future residents to the secondary school as well as providing an alternative route to the primary school via active travel means. There will be no through route for traffic between Maxstoke Lane and Gerards Way.
At Bloor Homes, we want to ensure that natural habitats are protected while we deliver new homes for people and families.
We are conscious of the ever-increasing importance of ensuring that development is sustainable, protecting and enhancing natural habitats and green infrastructure as much as possible whilst delivering much needed homes for people and families.
The provision of high-quality green public open spaces is at the heart of the landscape-led approach to sensitive development at Coleshill, with around 60% of the overall site area being retained as open space. Existing mature trees and the vast majority of hedgerows will be retained. Alongside this, extensive additional planting of new trees and the reinstatement of historic hedgerows that had been lost to agriculture, will enhance habitat provision across the site and increase tree cover.
The extensive green public open spaces will include a large area of country parkland in the northeastern section of the site. This will provide a new outdoor recreational resource for Coleshill, providing opportunities for people to connect with nature, with extensive areas of biodiversity enhancement and planting. A network of walking and cycling routes linking with existing public rights of way will be set within the extensive landscaped open spaces, as well as features including children’s play areas for new and existing residents and areas for natural play.
A key consideration with a planning proposal such as this is to ensure that local services receive the investment they need to accommodate housing growth in the local area. The development will generate investment into local infrastructure such as healthcare and education, and this will be informed by consultation carried out by North Warwickshire Borough Council with statutory bodies such as the local NHS Integrated Care Board, local education teams and highways authority, and will be secured via legal agreement between Bloor Homes and the Council. This is a requirement for Grey Belt proposals, and the scheme would not be approved unless it has been evidenced that such agreement on infrastructure contributions has been achieved.
To ensure that the impact of construction is kept to a minimum, a Construction Management Plan will be prepared and will form part of the planning conditions of any outline planning permission.
Bloor Homes has created this dedicated website – www.bloorhomescoleshill.com - to provide an opportunity for members of the community to view our emerging plans and provide feedback.
Once we submit our outline planning application, there will be a further opportunity to provide input and comment through North Warwickshire Borough Council’s statutory consultation on the submitted plans. This website will be updated to provide information about how to take part in the statutory consultation.
If outline planning permission is granted, we will then carry out further consultation on matters of detail such as architecture, detailed layout of homes, landscaping etc as we prepare a subsequent reserved matters planning application.
If you would like to be kept updated on this process and opportunities to take part in further engagement, please ensure you opt-in to receive email updates on the project when completing our online questionnaire.
If you have any questions that are not addressed on this website, or would welcome any further information, please contact our consultation team on 0121 6636614 or hello@bloorhomescoleshill.com.