Bennetts Close, Padbury
Bennetts Close is a strategic residential land project on the edge of Padbury in north Buckinghamshire. Cohanim's role has extended from development feasibility and masterplanning through Local Plan promotion, planning strategy, consultant procurement, deliverability evidence and the longer-term strategy for disposal to a housebuilder. The site has been actively promoted for residential development and was submitted to Buckinghamshire Council's Call for Sites in April 2025, supported by an indicative masterplan and vision document prepared as part of that process. The emerging Local Plan has subsequently identified the land as a proposed allocation for 25 dwellings, with no site-specific Key Development Requirements presently identified. The project is now being progressed towards an outline planning application designed to establish the principle of development and access while retaining sufficient flexibility for the eventual delivery partner.
Turning privately held land into a deliverable development opportunity The brief was not simply to prepare a housing layout. The objective was to determine whether land adjoining the existing settlement could become a credible residential development site, establish the most appropriate route through the planning system and progressively increase planning certainty without requiring the landowner to incur the cost of designing a scheme which a future housebuilder might subsequently replace. Our early work therefore considered planning prospects, density, access, development value, affordable housing, infrastructure, environmental constraints and the likely requirements of both Buckinghamshire Council and the eventual housebuilding market. The resulting strategy has been deliberately staged: understand the site → demonstrate capacity → promote the land → secure policy support → establish the principle through outline planning → bring a de-risked opportunity to the market.
Establishing development potential without over-designing the land Strategic land projects require a different approach from conventional architectural commissions. Too little information and the authority cannot be confident that development is deliverable. Too much design too early can create unnecessary cost, constrain a future housebuilder and introduce planning risks around details which do not need to be determined at outline stage. The challenge at Padbury has therefore been to produce enough architectural and technical evidence to demonstrate that the land can genuinely accommodate the emerging allocation while deliberately retaining flexibility over the eventual architecture. That principle ultimately led to an outline planning strategy with appearance and other detailed matters reserved, while access is proposed to be determined at outline stage.
A contained extension to the village
The allocation site extends to approximately 0.89 hectares in a single private freehold, with no ransom strips or third-party land requirements and an existing vehicular access onto Bennetts Close within the landowner's control. Its features include: - A protected tree to the north-east - A ditch and watercourse along the eastern boundary - A mature hedgerow and tree belt to the south - Nearby overhead electricity infrastructure - Public Footpath No.10 along the western edge From the outset, the masterplan uses these features to set the landscape and movement structure of the development.
Promoting the land through the plan-making process
The land has been actively promoted for residential development since 2023. The April 2025 Call for Sites submission was supported by an architectural vision and indicative masterplan, moving the proposal beyond speculative promotion and giving Buckinghamshire Council a spatial basis on which to assess access, landscape, the relationship with the village and realistic capacity. Planning work has continued as the new Local Plan has evolved.
From a line on a map to a deliverable allocation
A Local Plan allocation is only valuable if the land can actually be delivered, so our role has been to test the Council's emerging capacity against the realities of the site. By August 2026, updated masterplanning demonstrated 25 dwellings alongside: - The protected tree in an open setting - The southern hedgerow and tree belt within a landscape buffer - An undeveloped corridor beside the eastern watercourse - The public footpath on its existing alignment - Policy-compliant parking and sustainable drainage - The current policy assumption of 25% affordable housing The allocation is therefore backed by a genuine design exercise rather than a housing number applied to a site area.
Proposed for 25 homes under Policy SMA001
The most significant milestone to date: the site is identified in Buckinghamshire's emerging Local Plan as a proposed allocation for 25 dwellings under Policy SMA001, with no specific Key Development Requirements identified. The Council's deliverability process records: - Allocation reference: 3352 - Site: Land off 7 Bennetts Close, Padbury - Capacity: 25 dwellings - Expected delivery: all 25 homes within five years of adoption In August 2026 the Council requested a formal Site Deliverability Form for its Regulation 19 submission to the Planning Inspectorate, which Cohanim coordinated and completed on the landowner's behalf. The allocation remains proposed pending examination and adoption.
Designing enough to prove the principle
The masterplan has evolved alongside the planning strategy. Rather than fixing the final appearance of 25 houses, it tests the issues that determine whether the allocation can be delivered: - Capacity, access and internal movement - Relationship with existing houses and the village edge - Landscape buffers, protected trees and open space - Retention of the public right of way - Drainage and parking - Affordable housing This gives confidence in the allocation while leaving detail to be developed with the future housebuilder.
Fixing access at outline stage
The site benefits from an existing vehicular access onto Bennetts Close. As access is fundamental to deliverability, it is the one matter not reserved: the outline application will fix the access arrangement with the Highway Authority, leaving layout, appearance and landscaping for later stages. Transport and access design form part of the technical team.
A masterplan that puts the site's landscape to work
Our masterplan treats the site's existing landscape as a principal asset. Current assessment has identified no environmental constraint which prevents residential development. The protected tree becomes a focal feature, the southern hedgerow and tree belt a soft, established edge and the watercourse a green eastern corridor, with the footpath integrating pedestrian movement through the site. A Preliminary Ecological Appraisal, UK Habitat Survey, protected-species work where required and a formal Biodiversity Net Gain assessment support the design, giving the new neighbourhood character and a sense of place from the outset.
Building water management into the masterplan
Surface water will be managed on site through sustainable drainage, attenuated to greenfield run-off rates before discharge to the eastern watercourse, subject to agreement with the Lead Local Flood Authority. The masterplan has already been tested to accommodate SuDS alongside the full housing capacity, rather than fitting them into residual space later.
Removing planning uncertainty before submission
The outline application is supported by a coordinated programme of specialist work: - Topographical survey - Ecology and Biodiversity Net Gain - Arboriculture (BS5837) - Flood risk and drainage - Transport and access - Heritage and archaeology - Ground conditions and contamination No work to date has identified a matter capable of preventing or materially delaying delivery.
Securing certainty without burdening the eventual developer
An outline application was chosen deliberately. A full application would require substantial expenditure on detailed house design that a purchaser may not want, while Planning in Principle does not suit a scheme of this scale. The outline route establishes the principle, access and development parameters while leaving the detailed architecture to the eventual housebuilder through Reserved Matters, reducing the landowner's exposure and creating a substantially de-risked asset for disposal.
Designing for the planning system and the housebuilding market
The intended strategy is not for the existing landowner to self-build the development. Following outline planning permission, the site is intended to be marketed to a delivery partner. At approximately 25 homes, it is considered particularly suited to a single regional or SME housebuilder, and the absence of identified site-specific Key Development Requirements improves the simplicity of that proposition. This informs the architectural strategy. The masterplan needs to demonstrate a high-quality and credible form of development, but should not constrain the commercial flexibility required by the eventual purchaser. Cohanim's role therefore extends beyond securing planning permission into preparing the land to become an intelligible, technically supported and marketable development opportunity.
A site capable of coming forward early
The site is available immediately, held by a willing landowner and requires no third-party land or strategic infrastructure to be delivered. Utilities are available in the vicinity and no significant off-site enabling works have currently been identified. The deliverability programme submitted during the Local Plan process anticipates: – Pre-application engagement – Completion of technical and seasonal surveys – Outline planning submission – Determination – Marketing to a housebuilder – Reserved Matters and condition discharge – Subsequent construction The current Local Plan evidence anticipates all 25 dwellings being capable of delivery within the first five years following adoption.
From strategic promotion towards outline planning
Bennetts Close has now moved beyond the initial question of whether the land has development potential. The emerging Local Plan proposes the site for 25 dwellings. An updated masterplan has demonstrated that this capacity can be accommodated alongside the principal landscape, drainage, access, parking and affordable-housing requirements. Formal deliverability information has been provided to Buckinghamshire Council for the Regulation 19 / Planning Inspectorate process. The next stage is the preparation of the technical evidence and pre-application work required to support the outline planning application. The current programme anticipates outline submission in 2027, followed by disposal of the consented development opportunity to a housebuilder.
What the project has delivered so far
Chronological summary
| Date | Matter | Achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 onwards | Strategic land promotion | Site actively promoted for residential development |
| 2024–25 | Feasibility and masterplanning | Development capacity, access, value, planning strategy and site constraints assessed |
| Apr 2025 | Buckinghamshire Call for Sites | Land formally promoted with an indicative masterplan and vision document |
| 2025 | Masterplan development | Alternative development arrangements tested against landscape, access and village-edge considerations |
| Mar 2026 | Development strategy | Outline planning identified as preferred route to establish planning certainty while retaining detailed flexibility for a future housebuilder |
| 2026 | Consultant strategy | Transport, arboriculture, archaeology, heritage, drainage/FRA, BNG, ecology and visual-impact requirements identified as part of the application programme |
| Jul 2026 | Emerging Local Plan | Site confirmed as proposed allocation for 25 dwellings through Policy SMA001, with no identified Key Development Requirements |
| Aug 2026 | Updated masterplanning | 25-home capacity tested successfully alongside TPO tree retention, landscape buffers, watercourse corridor, public footpath, SuDS, parking and affordable housing |
| Aug 2026 | Regulation 19 process | Buckinghamshire Council requested formal allocation deliverability evidence for submission to the Planning Inspectorate |
| Aug–Sep 2026 | Site Deliverability Form | Cohanim coordinated the updated delivery evidence on behalf of the landowner |
| 2026–27 | Pre-application preparation | Access and multidisciplinary technical information being developed for engagement with Buckinghamshire Council |
| 2027 – programmed | Outline planning | Outline application intended with all matters reserved except access |
| 2028 – programmed | Partnership | JV Opportunities explored in response to practical delivery |
| 2028–29 – programmed | Reserved Matters | Detailed design and pre-commencement condition process anticipated with delivery partner |
| 2029 onwards – programmed | Construction | Current Local Plan evidence anticipates commencement and first completions, with all 25 homes deliverable within the first five years after plan adoption |