News on West of Ifield

Infrastructure

The need for sufficient infrastructure provision to address the impacts of development at the West of Ifield was a key issue highlighted by the local community during the face to face public consultation events in January 2020 and the feedback you shared with us.

Infrastructure covers a range of utilities, community facilities, local services and transport provision. It helps create high quality places, helps improve sustainability and ensures that people can live the lives they want.

We have previously published an update about our transport plans for Ifield ( here ), how we will deliver new transport infrastructure and how this will increase active lifestyles and increase the use of sustainable transport. However, we also understand the need to address other infrastructure requirements such as education and health care - two key areas raised during consultation.

Infrastructure was a point mentioned by 25 members of the community in the feedback form responses.

Some of the comments include:

“Uplift surrounding infrastructure to cope with added demands”

“Infrastructure needs improvement”

“Transport infrastructure and hospitals – both are severely lacking in the west of Ifield area”

As part of our plans for the West of Ifield, we want to make sure that the wider community are involved and that local feedback and views are taken into consideration during the design process. To do this, we asked the community to complete feedback forms as part of our consultation. These responses will help to influence the masterplan design. One of the questions asked was “What will help people be healthy and happy in the new neighbourhoods?” The responses to this question are detailed in the graph below.

The feedback form also offered the option to provide ‘other comments’ and answers that were not already covered in the available answers to choose from. Some of these responses include:

“Maintaining existing fields and woodland”

“Trim trails, bike paths, hospital”

"Sufficient parking facilities for visitors”

"Shared spaces. Streets where people can walk, cycle, get to public transport and drive, and where children can play. Gentle density. Interesting housing that people want to live in”

“Local shops, play areas for smaller children”

What work are we doing to understand and respond to the issues raised in this feedback?

We appreciate the points raised regarding infrastructure provision and want to take this opportunity to set out our approach to infrastructure delivery and outline further work we will be undertaking in conjunction with the local authorities and other infrastructure providers to ensure that any potential impacts of new development at the West of Ifield are addressed and that existing communities also benefit from the new investment.

In developing our plans, we are:

Engaging with utility companies – this will ensure that the existing networks (including gas, water supply and sewerage) can meet the additional demands arising as a result of the development and where necessary any upgrades are delivered at the right time. We understand concerns about water supply in the area and would like to assure the local community that we are working alongside Southern Water to ensure that there will be enough water capacity for the new homes and community facilities.

Engaging with education providers – to help ensure that all future education needs are met and if possible, help address the needs of the wider community. Through early discussions, we have identified opportunities for new primary and secondary education and will continue to explore the potential for further education and lifelong learning opportunities.

Working with health providers – to identify opportunities for accommodating new health facilities within the development. While Homes England cannot directly control when or where the health services will be provided, we are making sure that we address the impact of the new homes through the provision of onsite infrastructure and / or necessary financial contributions that can help alleviate the strain on health services in the area.

We are also designing the new neighbourhoods to meet the NHS Healthy New Towns Principles . As part of this, the neighbourhoods will be designed to maximise active travel and connect, involve and empower people and communities. This is in line with the 79 respondents who thought that an active lifestyle was a key part of helping people be healthy and happy in the new neighbourhoods. We are confident in our ability to incorporate these principles, as we have done so in our Northstowe scheme.

Improving Community Facilities – we are considering what opportunities exist to provide new or improved existing community facilities, including sport facilities, community halls and other meeting spaces. While we have already identified some opportunities to meet future needs, we would welcome input from existing community groups or sports clubs to identify how future provision could best meet the need existing needs as well.

Identifying opportunities to accelerate infrastructure delivery – in our capacity as masterdeveloper, Homes England are exploring potential delivery mechanisms of partnership arrangements that would help deliver new or improved infrastructure at the earliest opportunity. While it isn’t possible to deliver all new infrastructure upfront, we recognise the value that infrastructure in creating places that people want to live and addressing local concerns and therefore want to see the wider benefits of the scheme as early as possible. This is a similar approach to our schemes at Northstowe, Cambridge and Northern Arc, Burgess Hill.

If you’d like to read more about our plans, please visit our news page here . Over the past few weeks, we have posted updates about our plans for transport, working and open spaces. We are looking forward to engaging with the local community again later in the year. Make sure you are subscribed to receive our updates to stay up to date on all our engagement activities.

If you have any questions about the information provided, the consultation or the proposals please get in touch at westofifield@homesengland.gov.uk or 020 8629 7209.

Posted on 14th August 2020

by West of Ifield