Environmental Planning
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Client: Trustees of the Barker Mill Estate
Background: The Landmark Practice was appointed by the Trustees of the Barker Mill Estate to scope and manage an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and prepare the Environmental Statement (ES) to inform a planning application for development of a 32 ha business park at Adanac Park, alongside the M271 gateway to Southampton.
The planning application was for a ‘hybrid’ scheme, comprising both full planning and outline planning components. The application for the new Ordnance Survey Head Office, to be relocated from its existing offices in Southampton, was made in full, and outline consent was sought for a further circa 60 000 sq m of high quality office, research and manufacturing uses.
Description: The proposed development was for a business park for large space users, comprising a number of large prestige buildings for use within Use Class B1 on five spacious and well-landscaped plots.
Allocated in the Test Valley Borough Local Plan for high quality office, research and manufacturing development, the site was subject to a number of sensitivities. It lies in close proximity to the Solent and Southampton European site and adjacent to a site of County importance for nature conservation. This meant that there was risk of potential impacts to protected species and sites and a need to maintain habitat connectivity by incorporation of green infrastructure within development.
Proximity to adjacent residential areas and highways also necessitated thorough assessments of landscape and visual impact, artificial lighting, noise, hydrology and traffic.
As part of the masterplanning team The Landmark Practice managed and produced the project EIA for both applicants, The Trustees of the Barker Mill Estate and Ordnance Survey. The complex EIA responded to the change in UK EIA Regulations following the European Court of Justice ruling in 2006, that both outline and reserved matters parts of staged development schemes may be subject to EIA
Landmark also undertook the landscape and ecological impact assessment to inform the EIA and prepared the landscape masterplan for the entire site.
Client Benefits: An approach to the EIA was devised that satisfied the requirements of Article 3 of the General Development Procedure Order (GDPO), the requirements of the EIA Regulations and respond to case law, whilst also retaining maximum flexibility for the outline element of the scheme for our clients.
Planning approval for the hybrid scheme was granted in January 2008 by unanimous planning committee vote.