
The aim of The Ashfield Partnership is to build a legacy through our sustainable housing and communities, Luzborough, Whitenap and Mountbatten Park. In order to do this, we need to set a radical agenda that shies away from the norm and instead seeks new ways of construction that serve not only the future residents of those communities but the wider environment as well. This is why we are holding regular meetings and sessions for those in existing communities to share their ideas.
We recognise that we can only develop land once and that what we build now will shape the resident community for hundreds of years. Working with the existing community to shape the new is essential if The Ashfield Partnership is to create successful and sustainable developments.
Local people know what is needed and what will work best so we wanted to reach out across the community. The Ashfield Estate embarked on its community engagement journey back in 2006, before any construction began. These early workshops prepared the ground for the major Enquiry by Design event held in the autumn of 2008 by The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community.
The Ashfield Partnership was formed in January 2011 and paved the way for its first scheme at Luzborough with an open-door event held at Romsey Town Hall in 2014. Now Luzborough is completed, we hope that it is living up to the expectations created through our community engagement programme. We will continue to engage with local residents as we create Mountbatten Park and Whitenap.
Each building at Luzborough, Mountbatten Park, and Whitenap has been, or will be, designed not so much to stand out but to contribute to making the place. Phases and streets may reveal a particular character but they will conform to the overall Masterplan which aims to secure the traditional Hampshire, specifically the Test Valley, vernacular.
Mountbatten Park as a proposal emerged through our Enquiry by Design event held in 2008 and was revisited following its allocation as a site in the Revised Local Plan. The Ashfield Partnership then held an open event at North Baddesley in 2015 and an outline planning application was submitted in October of the following year.
The Partnership has since attended a number of meetings with North Baddesley Parish Council, specifically to consider how the scheme might help to achieve improvements to Mountbatten Park and therefore become even more valuable to the existing communities.
In preparing for an outline planning application for Whitenap, and having assembled a good deal of technical information, The Ashfield Partnership held a Pathfinder Day at Romsey Town Hall. This informative day included a tour of our Luzborough and Whitenap developments and set the scene for further community engagement before finalising plans.