RACECOURSE SIDE MASTERPLAN

This area is comprised of different pockets of land with different names; The Back of the Flat, Seven Springs, Pinewood and Southfield Farm. It lies to the north west of Newmarket town centre and borders the far end of Hamilton Road, Exning Road and the A14.

The Racecourse Side Masterplan included:

At our first Playing our Part in Newmarket’s Future exhibition in March 2022 we presented a concept masterplan for Newmarket’s “Racecourse Side”.

  • A new community park at Seven Springs to provide a public amenity for all of Newmarket

  • A potential residential site at Pinewood

  • An all-weather racecourse on the winter training grounds

  • A potential opportunity for training yards, starter yards and satellite yards

  • A potential opportunity for a recycling facility for horse waste at Southfield Farm

Feedback from our 2022 consultation has informed updated proposals for Pinewood and Seven Springs Country Park, which we are pleased to share with you today.

The concept of new homes and a neighbouring community park in this location feature in the West Suffolk Council Draft Local Plan. If the Local Plan is adopted, it will provide the framework for the future growth of the whole West Suffolk Council district for the next 15 – 20 years.

Feedback from our consultation also informed updates to the configuration of an All Weather Racecourse and Training Facility on the Back of the Flat. Whilst this is not specifically included in the Draft Local Plan, the horseracing policies within it would support the opportunity to develop such a facility should The Jockey Club, Newmarket’s horseracing industry and the wider racing industry believe there is merit in it for the future. Funding constraints also mean this is likely to be a longer-term prospect.

The Newmarket Thoroughbred Racing & Breeding Industry Forum is currently discussing potential models for training, starter and satellite yards, as well as the potential for a horse waste recycling facility in the form of waste to energy.

NEW HOMES AT PINEWOOD MASTERPLAN
CONCEPT LAYOUTS

The Illustrative Concept Plans seek to:

• Create a new gateway to the north-west of Newmarket.

• Create a landscape-led scheme which preserves and enhances the site’s existing mature landscaped framework.

• Provide a significant amount of public open space, along with pockets of formal and informal play spaces, improved green networks and Country Park.

• Create more active travel routes and improve pedestrian connectivity through the site, linking the proposal to local infrastructure, including the proposed Country Park.

• Provide a housing mix which assists in the creation of a balanced and sustainable community.

• Develop a sustainable residential scheme that contributes toward local housing needs, including a mix of housing typologies which provide opportunities for more affordable housing opportunities.

The proposals illustrate several layout options for the development of land between Exning Road and the A14, providing much needed housing in an accessible, prominent and sustainable location to the north-west of Newmarket.

• Create vehicular access points onto the site from Exning Road and Hamilton Road, to provide a coherent network of streets that connect to existing infrastructure.

• Enhance biodiversity by sensitively and strategically incorporating ecological features such as orchards, village greens, wildflower planting, play on the way, attenuation features and native planting to encourage wildlife and improve the existing landscaping.

• Benefit the wider community as a whole with new social, environmental and community provisions, including the proposed Country Park with café, wild play areas, woodland and recreational spaces.

Layout 1

• Delivers a minimum of 450 new homes of mixed size and tenure

• Creates two distinct areas of housing development connected by a network of footpaths and cycleways

• Housing development is separated by a linear green corridor of public open space running centrally from a north-east to south-west direction

• Active travel route around periphery of the site

• Retains existing mature on-site landscaping and increases opportunity for biodiversity

• Two new vehicular access points onto Exning Road

Layout 2

• Delivers a minimum of 415 new homes of mixed size and tenure

• Extends the residential area to the south, creating more open space in the heart of the scheme

• Central open space comprises one large multi functional amenity zone

• Extends the residential area to the south enabling more open space in the centre of the scheme

• Two new vehicular access points onto Exning Road

Layout 3

• Delivers a minimum of 500 new homes of mixed size and tenure, with higher density housing (eg co-housing/ apartments) alongside the Exning Road

• Amenity open space separated into two zones, maximising residential outlooks onto green space • Active travel route around periphery of the site

• Two new vehicular access points onto Exning Road

Layout 4

• Delivers a minimum of 415 new homes of mixed size and tenure

• Extends the residential area to the south enabling more open space in the centre of the scheme

• Residential layouts arranged to create a green corridor connecting the internal amenity open space directly to the country park

• Two new vehicular access points onto Exning Road

• Includes provision for potential nursery school site for Suffolk County Council’s preferred future education provision

Layout 5

• Delivers a minimum of 500 new homes of mixed size and tenure

• Extends the residential area to the south enabling more open space in the centre of the scheme

• Expands the country park into the housing zone, maximising public open amenity and leisure uses on the level ground at the top of the hill

• One new vehicular access point onto Exning Road, with a secondary access from Hamilton Road

• Includes provision for potential nursery school site for Suffolk County Council’s preferred future education provision

Layout 6

• Provides 415+ new homes of mixed size and tenure

• Extends the residential area to the south enabling more open space in the centre of the scheme

• Further expands the country park into the housing zone, maximising public open amenity and leisure uses on the level ground at the top of the hill

• Two new vehicular access points onto Exning Road

• Includes provision for potential nursery school site for Suffolk County Council’s preferred future education provision

NEW HOMES AT PINEWOOD PREFERRED LAYOUTS

Pinewood House Types

There are at least 415 new homes proposed for the development at Pinewood, which will comprise a mixture of size and tenures, comprising a blend of private and affordable housing. The exact mix is still to be determined as the scheme evolves through public consultation, engagement with West Suffolk Council, other consultees and technical input from professional consultants such as ecologists, landscape architects and highways engineers.

The housing mix will also ensure a range of housing types from the smallest apartments to larger detached family homes to deliberately reflect the existing breadth of community housing needs in Newmarket, and to provide new homes for a diverse community of residents.

The images and descriptions below are purely indicative of the type of new homes that the development could provide.

Co-Housing

• A blend of 1 & 2 bedroom apartments alongside small terraced houses, with shared open spaces. • 1 bedroom apartments from 39sqm GIA (420sqft) (National housing space standards)

• 2 bedroom apartments from 61sqm (657sqft) (National housing space standards)

• 2 bedroom terraced house from 70sqm (753sqft) (National housing space standards) Precedent image: Marmalade Lane, Cambridge

Semi detached town houses

• The proposals would provide 3 and 4 bedroom town houses, arranged over three floors, with private gardens.

• 3 bedroom town house from 90sqm (970sqft) (National housing space standards)

• 4 bedroom town house from 103sqm (1,110sqft) (National housing space standards)

Precedent images: Filwood Park, Bristol and Sadler’s Yard, Cambridge

Detached houses

• The development would provide a range of detached houses, comprising 4 and 5 bedroom houses with private gardens and garaging for 1 – 2 cars.

• 4 bedroom detached houses from 103sqm (1,110sqft) (National housing space standards)

• 5 bedroom detached houses from 110sqm (1,180sqft) (National housing space standards)

Precedent image: Flecks Drive, Royston