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The Local Plan, site HS26

HS26: Site of Four Courts, Stonehouse Drive

Wishing Tree ward, Stonehouse Drive. From Appendix 1 Draft Local Plan - Pre Submission (Regulation 19) September 2026 ↗, Full Council, Wed 23 Sep 2026.

For
Residential-led Renewal
Minimum Capacity
450 dwellings (gross) 64 dwellings (net)
Site area
4.44 hectares
Stonehouse DriveSite of Four Courts, Stonehouse Drive (64 net new homes)
Placed at Stonehouse Drive, the street its name gives, where OpenStreetMap puts it. The site's exact boundary is on the council's Policies Map ↗.

What the plan says about it

This is a 4.4ha site comprising 381 dwellings across four tower blocks (each one 18 storeys): Bevin Court, Kennedy Court, Roosevelt Court and Churchill Court. Within the site there is also a community centre, a nursery, three 2 storey terraces and two semi-detached bungalows, and a limited amount of parking.

Developed in the 1960s, the existing high-rise blocks have numerous deficiencies which the landowner wishes to address through a comprehensive renewal scheme.

The rest of the plan's explanation (9 more paragraphs)

The site is allocated for a minimum of 450 dwellings gross, with higher densities being encouraged. Development on the site should be apartment- led, seeking to maximise the established high-density nature of the site.

Comprehensive renewal of the site provides an opportunity to increase housing provision, improve the quality and accessibility of the accommodation and to create a more attractive and better-connected public realm.

Redevelopment of the site should concentrate not only on the replacement and increase of the number of housing units on the site, but also on providing substantial community infrastructure, including central open space, play space, landscaping, biodiversity gains and connectivity, both within the site and through to the wider environs beyond.

Development should be apartment-led, with dwellings of varying size and layout, in order to maximise the area of central open space. Alternative schemes will be considered provided that they are design-led and include substantial central open space.

The community centre and nursery are important community facilities and should be retained, or, if demolished as part of a comprehensive redevelopment scheme, be replaced with facilities of at least equivalent function. Replacement should seek to improve the level of provision in terms of quality, accessibility and useability and any period of time where community facilities will not be available to occupiers should be as minimal as possible.

The site consists of a varied and sloping topography. The design of any scheme should seek to utilise the landform to help positively shape the layout and built form. Proposals will need to demonstrate how access routes, pedestrian and vehicular movements, drainage and parking effectively utilise the changes in levels on the site. Consideration should be given to reducing the need for cut and fill, significant retaining structures and major engineering works.

The Hollington Stream runs alongside the boundary of this site. A limited portion of the site is in Flood Zone 3b, and a Flood Risk Assessment taking into account all potential sources of flooding will be required and mitigation as advised by the report should be incorporated into any potential scheme and maintained for its lifetime, with a sequential approach taken to ensure compatibility of scheme elements with the level of flood risk. The Hollington Stream is an important ecological asset and is also engineered to avoid unacceptable flood risk so close working with the council and the Environment Agency is encouraged. Safe access and exit for all residents must be provided.

Adequate buffer zones should be incorporated into any proposal that takes into account riparian zones, the impacts of climate change on flood risk, BAP Priority Habitat (deciduous woodland) to the west of the site and Southern Water’s infrastructure to the south-east. Natural Flood Management Measures, such as floodplain restoration, may be appropriate within this site. Easements should be provided to allow the monitoring of water quality.

The site is adjacent to the Ponds Wood Local Nature Reserve and Local Wildlife Site sits. The LWS and the Hollington Stream must be specifically referenced in Ecological Impact Assessments (EcIA) and Ecological Constraints and Opportunities Plan (ECOP), and the site itself should be thoroughly surveyed to identify constraints, taking into account the ecological and recreational impact of development. The BNG assessment must include a River Condition Assessment.

What a planning application here would have to do

The policy's conditions, in its own words:

  1. Deliver a comprehensive apartment-led renewal scheme, making best use of the established high-density residential location by providing a minimum of 450 dwellings
  2. Demonstrate a high quality of design, make efficient use of the site, provide an appropriate mix of dwelling sizes
  3. Ensure the existing community centre and nursery are retained or, as part of the comprehensive redevelopment of the site, replaced with enhanced provision, including outdoor play space for the nursery
  4. Create a distinctive neighbourhood oriented around a centrally located area of substantial open space, forming the focus of the development, providing opportunities for recreation, biodiversity enhancement and sustainable drainage
  5. Provide high-quality, accessible, well designed and overlooked play provision, integrated within the central open space as well around the wider site, including equipped play and opportunities for doorstep play
  6. Make best use of the site’s topography to positively inform design, scale, layout and massing.
  7. Be supported by appropriate technical assessments and mitigation measures, including where necessary:
  8. A flood risk assessment addressing all sources of flooding and a drainage strategy with specific reference to the Hollington Stream; ii. An Ecological Impact Assessment and Ecological Constraints and Opportunities Plan informed by surveys of the site itself and nearby areas of wildlife sensitivity including Ancient Woodland, Hollington Stream, Ponds Wood Local Nature Reserve and Local Wildlife Site. The site sits within the ACIB with mapped measures for buffer strips along rivers and streams which should likewise be incorporated into the reports. A River Condition Assessment will be required to inform assessments of BNG; iii. An arboricultural assessment; iv. Land stability, groundwater and geotechnical investigations to inform the demolition, construction and occupation phases; v. A Visual Impact Assessment, demonstrating how the scale, massing and roofscape of the development responds to the surrounding townscape and wider views; h. Provide safe and legible pedestrian and cycle routes throughout the site, linking with existing external networks.
  9. Parking provision, including secure cycle storage, should respond to the proposed dwelling mix and be incorporated into building design and layout, reducing impact on the public realm and open space provision.
  10. Include arrangements through legal agreement, for the long-term management and maintenance of the public open space, landscaping, ecological features and community facilities and any land stability mitigation measures
  11. As part of any required Site Waste Management Plan, which deals with construction, demolition and excavation waste, include an Operational Waste Management Plan. This should set out the location and design of integrated waste and recycling storage, collection points, servicing and management arrangements.

What people said in the spring

This site wasn't a policy of its own in the spring draft, so the council's consultation report has no figures for it.

How to comment

The council hasn't opened the six weeks for comments yet, as far as we can see. When it does, the dates and how to respond will be on our Local Plan page and on the council's own ↗.

At this stage a comment is about whether the plan is legally compliant and sound. What that means.

Other council papers that mention it

Read from the plan ↗ and the spring consultation report ↗ with fixed rules; no language model is involved. The plan's own text is what counts.