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  • Welcome
  • About the Site
  • Our Vision
  • Our Proposals
  • Technical Delivery
  • Sustainability
  • Application and Timeline
  • FAQs
  • Useful Links
  • Submit Your Feedback
  • About Catesby Estates

Welcome

Thank you for visiting our consultation website to find out more about our proposals.

We are preparing an outline planning application for a development of up to 300 new homes and public open space on Land East of Hitchin Road, Henlow Camp.

Our vision is to plan a high quality, sustainable and well connected development providing a range of house types and sizes, including much needed affordable housing.

This website provides an overview of the emerging proposals and design.

It also provides an opportunity for you to share your comments on the outline scheme as part of the pre-application consultation, ahead of us submitting an outline planning application to Central Bedfordshire Council later in the process.

Housing Targets

These proposals are being brought forward at the time of a well-recognised national housing crisis and an imperative to deliver significant more homes across the country.

The Government’s aim is to deliver at least 1.5 million new homes in England by 2029.

To achieve this, each Local Planning Authority is required to have enough sites ready for development to meet their identified housing target for a minimum of 5 years.

The Council’s latest Housing Land Supply Assessment shows that there are not enough sites to meet the identified need for the next 5 years.

In such circumstances planning permission is expected to be granted unless the adverse effects of doing so would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits.

The need for new housing in the district is in both the short and longer terms. The Government published an updated National Planning Policy Framework in December 2024 and new mandatory housing targets for each Local Planning Authority to boost the supply of housing.

The new target which will come into force in July 2026, is higher than that currently set by the Council’s Local Plan.

The Development Plan

Policies relevant to the consideration of the site are contained in the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan (‘CBLP’) 2015 – 2035.

The CBLP, which was adopted in July 2021, sets out the Council’s strategy for meeting the area’s needs until 2035. The site lies within the Henlow Neighbourhood Plan Area designated in 2014. At this time, no Neighbourhood Plan has been prepared.

The Council have announced that their new Local Plan will now move forward under the new regulations, with a light touch scoping consultation planned for April 2026. Regulation 18 consultations are anticipated to take place around September 2026.

A new Local Plan will not therefore be adopted for some time yet and in order to support housing delivery in the short term, the Council is obliged to consider positively proposals for sustainable new housing development.

The proposals offer an opportunity to create a new positive built settlement edge to the north of Henlow Camp. The proposed development would represent a natural extension extending no further than existing development to the west at RAF Henlow and would deliver an enhanced landscape edge providing a transition between the built-up area of the settlement and the wider agricultural landscape to the north and east. 

About the Site

The land is a greenfield site located to the north-east of the centre of Henlow Camp and measures 44.7 acres (18.1 hectares) .

The site is bounded to the west by the B659 Hitchin Road and to the south by land allocated for residential development under policy HAS23 in the Central Bedfordshire Local Plan.

To the east the site is bounded by a Public Footpath (Henlow 13), and the northern boundary is in part defined by a farm track, and then further north several arable fields and a former sewage treatment works.

To the south-west is Henlow Camp village and west is RAF Henlow, declared surplus to MOD requirements.

In 2021, the DIO (Defence Infrastructure Organisation) with Homes England prepared a draft masterplan for the redevelopment of the site for housing, employment, open space and community facilities.

 

 

Our Vision

Our vision for Land east of Hitchin Road, Henlow Camp is to deliver a variety of new homes, including affordable housing, designed to meet high sustainability standards and helping to meet local housing needs

The proposed homes would be set within high-quality landscaping and green open spaces with new areas of planting.

New homes can help to support the vitality and economic growth of existing and future local facilities, services and employment opportunities in and around Henlow Camp.

The proposals include internal green corridors and landscape buffers, creating a rich network of green infrastructure and connected habitats, promoting biodiversity in addition to spaces for play and recreation.

Existing vegetation is proposed to be retained and enhanced, with new areas of landscaping and multi-functional open spaces.

A woodland buffer is proposed to the northern and eastern edges of the site, forming a new vegetated edge and screening the proposals on the approach to Henlow Camp from the north. New planted sustainable drainage features are proposed towards the north of the site, providing mitigation against flooding, whilst promoting biodiversity and amenity benefits.

The proposals retain the existing Public Right of Way (PRoW) through the site and incorporate new recreational routes, linking into the existing footpath network, with onward connections to local greenspaces and facilities, supporting sustainable and active travel choices.

The following sections outline the emerging proposals in more detail.

We encourage you to share your views using the online feedback survey in the HAVE YOUR SAY section of the website.

New Homes
Affordable Housing
Extensive Public Open Space
Allotments
Walking and Cycling

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Our Proposals

The development of the site at Land East Of Hitchin Road, Henlow Camp would create a desirable and sustainable new neighbourhood that supports the health and well-being of residents.

The proposed development will be brought forward through an Outline Planning Application with all matters reserved (excluding access) to the Council.

Outline Planning Applications seek to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the Local Planning Authority, before a fully detailed proposal is put forward.

A Reserved Matters Application typically includes information on the layout, landscaping and appearance of the development.

Local residents and statutory consultees (for example the Environment Agency and the Highway Authority) will also have the opportunity to formally comment on the application once it is submitted and registered with Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

Whilst the detailed design of the site would be determined at the Reserved Matters planning stage, we have produced a Draft Concept Plan which establishes key principles for the delivery of the new neighbourhood in line with the vision. 

Future applications will be submitted once planning permission is granted and will provide details of landscape, scale, appearance and layout (the Reserved Matters).

In summary the proposals provide:

  • Up to 300 homes with a mix of house sizes and types, ranging from 1 to 4 bed houses to meet local policy requirements and identified need

 

  • 30% affordable housing. Affordable housing can be a combination of discounted rent, discounted sale (for first time buyers) and shared ownership housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market

 

  • New areas of public open green space and planting, including new areas for play, potential allotments, amenity spaces and areas for wildlife and biodiversity enhancements

 

  • Retention of existing Public Rights of Way (PRoWs), and creation of new recreational routes linking to these footpaths and the wider PRoW network

 

  • Financial contributions to local infrastructure improvements such as education and healthcare facilities

 

Draft Masterplan
 

Technical Delivery

As part of our proposals, we work with specialist consultants to carefully assess the site and make sure it can be technically delivered. This includes looking at things like drainage, ecology and highways.

Highways And Access
Ecology
Archaeology And Heritage
Flooding And Drainage
Noise

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Sustainability

New and existing homes account for 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

Building sustainability is a key feature of delivering new homes.

The final design of the new homes would be submitted at a later date, should outline planning permission be granted, however, the broad principles for sustainability are outlined below:

Application and Timeline

We will be submitting an Outline Planning Application with all matters reserved (excluding access).

Outline Planning Applications seek to establish whether the scale and nature of a proposed development would be acceptable to the Local Planning Authority, before a fully detailed proposal is put forward.

Where outline permission has been granted, an application for the outstanding Reserved Matters can be submitted. This will typically include information about the layout, landscape and appearance of the development.

Statutory consultees (eg. Environment Agency, Highways England, Natural England and Parish Councils) and local residents will also have the opportunity to formally comment on our application once submitted and registered with the Council.

Should planning permission be granted
Consultation - February/March 2026
Submission of application - Summer 2026
Determination of application at planning committee - Winter 2026
Should planning permission be granted
Sale to housebuilder or developer - Summer 2027
Reserved Matters Application by housebuilder or developer - Winter 2027

FAQs

Whether you’re curious about how land promotion works, want to know what to expect during the planning stages, or are simply exploring more about the proposals this section is designed to provide simple and transparent information to questions commonly raised.

Submit Your Feedback

To help us better understand your views, it would be greatly appreciated if you would take the time submit your feedback via our online survey.  Click on the SUBMIT YOUR FEEDBACK BUTTON.

We also accept feedback via email: feedback@catesbyestates.co.uk or via post (no stamp required) with the address freepost: CATESBY ESTATES.

Please let us have your feedback by no later than SUNDAY 22nd March 2026.

About Catesby Estates

Catesby Estates is highly regarded as one of the foremost experts in strategic land promotion and infrastructure delivery.

Catesby Estates is highly regarded as one of the foremost experts in strategic land promotion and infrastructure delivery.

Landowners choose to partner with us as their strategic land promoter, due to our track record in successfully delivering planning consents and our ability to maximise land value.

Catesby Estates uses its in-house expertise and financial resources at no cost to the landowner, to promote land through the planning system with the aim of obtaining planning consent.

The land is then marketed to our extensive network of housebuilder and developer contacts, and the land site is then sold for the highest possible return, therefore maximising the value of the land for landowners.

 

A land promoter focuses on securing planning permission for land and then selling it on without doing any construction or housebuilding.

A housebuilder or developer buys land (often with outline planning permission already in place) and builds the homes.

Housebuilders like land promoters because promoters take on the costly, risky, and time-consuming process of securing planning permission.

This means builders can buy “oven-ready” sites with approvals in place, saving them uncertainty and allowing them to focus on what they do best delivering and selling homes.