Placemaking and community will be the foundations of life at The Steadings, helping to deliver high quality and sensitively designed spaces that provide an attractive, welcoming and healthy environment for everybody to enjoy.
The Steadings will comprise:
2,350 new homes; employment land to suit every business; a three-form entry primary school; a neighbourhood centre; indoor sports hall; football pitches and tennis courts; a health centre; local retail; restaurants and cafés – focused around the existing Grade II listed farmhouse and its outbuildings situated at the very heart of the community.
One of the most distinctive features of The Steadings will be its vast green open spaces and its network of footpaths and cycleways linking the character areas and making them easily accessible to all residents. Encouraging residents to make sustainable travel choices, a bus service will follow a route directly through the site with a number of bus stops located within the development.
The quality of the homes provided will pay respect to the highly desirable Cotswolds location of The Steadings. The vision for The Steadings is that the housing provided here will be the backbone of a new neighbourhood for Cirencester that future generations will enjoy and be proud of.
The Steadings will offer a mix of dwelling types and tenures, including affordable housing, providing new opportunities for everyone be it young families, those in their later years, first time buyers or couples and individuals to put down roots.
Sustainability is at the heart of The Steadings ethos and a host of different services and facilities will be within easy walking distance of the new homes, encouraging residents out of their cars and onto the extensive network of footpaths and cycleways. Vehicle speed in the development will be kept low, so that streets and junctions will be useable and enjoyable public spaces, designed to ensure they are secure and safe spaces for all users.
The provision of over 40 hectares – almost 100 acres – of green open space comprising new playing fields, formal parkland and informal open spaces is a key element of The Steadings.
Interconnected green spaces will be reached via attractive footpaths and cycleways providing opportunities to run, walk, cycle and play outside, all serving to promote a green approach to living and healthy lifestyles. The existing landscape and heritage assets will be carefully preserved, their settings enhanced with existing trees and hedgerows retained where possible.
Sports provision will be provided in a large single location adjoining the neighbourhood centre. Two mini football pitches, three outdoor tennis courts and a single building to accommodate a sports hall and health and fitness will be provided and built to Sport England standards.
The Steadings will complement and expand the existing provision in Cirencester providing new facilities for all residents and visitors to the local area.
The masterplan seeks to consolidate a range of activities and services at the Neighbourhood Centre in its central location, including retail, a GP surgery, a multi-purpose community hall, bus stops, and the school. Sports, health and fitness facilities are proposed a short distance to the south of the square.
Allotments are shown a short distance to the east, enabling the potential for on-site food production and food education. The square itself would provide opportunities for occasional events or celebrations, furthering its role as a point of community focus and interaction.
The sports facility will be located to the south of the neighbourhood centre in the heart of the site and will reinforce links into Chesterton by providing facilities for the new and existing community, bringing activity and patronage into the centre of the scheme.
New sports provision will include:
– a new sports hall
– health and fitness centre
– two new full size football pitches
– three tennis courts
The Steadings will create a new community welcoming those at all stages of life. The housing provided includes housing for the elderly, affordable homes and private market houses.