Rumours about Berkeley Homes development on Hawkenbury Farm

A number of rumours have been circulating regarding the Berkeley Homes development on Hawkenbury Farm. We have spoken to Berkeley Homes and the council regarding this and we have had the following response:

There has been no delay in the provisioning of the school:
Under the s106 Berkeley are obligated to use reasonable endeavours to transfer the School Land to KCC by 31^st July 2018 and we remain engaged with KCC over the works required to the School Land as per the Transfer Specification.

There has been no delay in the start of the development:
Prior to the commencement of our main construction works, we had an obligation to deal with a series of ecological matters in respect of Badgers, Reptiles, Dormice and Bats.  Berkeley has now completed the stage 1 and stage 2 ecology works, under Licence from Natural England. However, the construction works would not have been able to commence until after the stage 2 ecology works were completed.

Enabling works are currently in planning stage:
Berkeley is in the process of progressing a series of planning submissions that are required in respect of the pre-commencement conditions, before the main works can commence.

A number of these applications are now live on the TWBC planning portal. The works include a regulated pedestrian crossing on Hawkenbury Road and 2 further unregulated pedestrian crossings. A gateway entrance will be created on Hawkenbury Road. Forest Way will be widened at the junction with Forest Road and will have a left turn lane added. There are a number of other changes to roads in the local area also proposed. You can view them here.

Maryland Road:
The 2 houses on Maryland Road are scheduled for demolition. They will be demolished prior to Christmas 2017 and appropriate hoarding will be erected to protect the site. The road access to the site is part of the planning application mentioned above and the works will be undertaken subject to planning.

We will keep you updated on developments as best we can. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. You can also sign up and become a member of the Hawkenbury Village Association and receive regular updates by email.