Dorchester Living’s Masterplan Vision

Dorchester Living, the developer of Heyford Park in Oxfordshire, has submitted a scoping request to Cherwell District Council in advance of preparing a planning application.

Dorchester Living has submitted the request after two years of consultation and development of its new masterplan.

Heyford Park is a thriving new settlement ten minutes from Bicester, located on the site of the former RAF Upper Heyford airfield. Since Dorchester Living acquired the site in 2009, it has delivered:

·      Over 1,200 new mixed-tenure homes
·      A Village Centre consisting of a new hotel, restaurant and bar, Sainsbury’s, dentist, barbers, pharmacy and bike shop
·      An all though school, with indoor sports facilities
·      Public open space including parks and sports facilities

This has been accomplished with the cooperation and support of the local community. The emerging masterplan proposals would provide:

·      6,000 additional dwellings with a mix of tenures including affordable housing
·      Greater accessibility to the heritage of the former RAF airfield
·      The creation of 3,000 new jobs through 50,000 sq m of commercial space, focused on cleantech industries
·      A new railway station, with direct connections to London and Birmingham
·      Renewable energy generation
·      Significant open space for leisure and biodiversity improvement, including a new central park, equivalent in size to New York’s Central Park)

Commenting, Paul Silver, Chief Executive of Dorchester Living said:
“In recent weeks the new Government has made clear that it is committed to enabling a major housebuilding and infrastructure programme to deliver the homes and facilities that the country needs. A focus on brownfield-first development and the provision of high-quality, mixed-tenure homes sits at the heart of this, and we at Dorchester Living fully support its ambition and we are ready to play our role in helping to achieve it.

“There can be few better examples of what can be achieved when you combine a large brownfield site with strategic plan making and the close cooperation and engagement of multiple stakeholders and the local community than Heyford Park.

“Oxfordshire has a crippling housing crisis which is only getting worse. Heyford Park is perfectly placed to accommodate more growth – being a disused airfield – and our masterplan would not only deliver thousands of new mixed-tenure homes, but also jobs, commercial space and major new sustainable transport infrastructure. Equally important, it would breathe new life into the site, which has a vibrant military past. We are looking forward to working with Cherwell District Council as we further develop our masterplan proposals.”