Creating Healthy Communities
Two places. Ten years on.
By Marcus Adams & Clare San Martin
Creating Healthy Communities
JTP has long advocated a holistic and joined-up approach to placemaking and co-designing new places, one that aims to foster strong communities as well as providing high-quality homes, local facilities, public realm and open spaces.
We believe that the test of a successful new neighbourhood is the emergence of a cohesive and supportive community. However, our involvement with projects usually ends once construction is completed, and we aren’t often involved long enough to see how the community develops and evolves over time.
The new Labour government has pledged to speed up the delivery of new homes to drive economic growth. Higher housing targets, quicker planning approvals, development on ‘grey belt’ land, and even new towns form part of their strategy. But how can we ensure the new homes will be within neighbourhoods that foster the development of strong communities?
The Homes England Strategic Plan published in May 2023 provided a renewed focus on ‘pride of place’ and how to deliver vibrant and successful places in the long term. Motivated by this challenge during the summer of 2023 we set ourselves the goal of re-visiting several neighbourhoods we had designed; new places designed by JTP but now occupied by new residents for over 10 years.
We wanted to see whether our visions of a thriving community life had materialised and whether community facilities and civic spaces were well used and valued by residents. We hoped to establish how these communities had matured. By speaking to people living and working there, our aim was to learn about what had happened after the planners, designers and developers left.
Where we found evidence of lively and resilient communities, we tried to identify what had helped them thrive, what challenges they had faced and how they had worked to overcome them. We wanted to know whether the physical form of the place and its mix of uses had fostered the development of those communities and what factors had been important in bringing people together to engage in community life and form social networks. We wanted to learn lessons that we can apply to the design of new places in the future.
Of the places we visited, two neighbourhoods stood out as having most successfully developed strong and vibrant communities: Graylingwell Park in Chichester, and Cholsey Meadows in South Oxfordshire. Both of the projects were former asylums with existing listed buildings and mature landscape, and formed part of the Homes England, formerly Homes & Communities Agency, portfolio of sites acquired from the NHS. Both also involved a competitive selection process to identify the preferred development partner with ambitious briefs targeting reuse of historic buildings, environmental excellence, low carbon and community stewardship.
What we found in these places was that the people we interviewed were particularly positive about the community that had evolved and the broad range of opportunities available to socialise locally. Both places had a wide variety of active community groups and venues as well as a strong culture of volunteering. The public realm was of a high quality and well maintained, and people spoke about the places as having a strong identity rooted in heritage. Notably, both had also benefited from the creation of local community development trusts, which our research revealed played a significant role in fostering the development of community life and providing support for residents in need.
The following neighbourhood case studies describe what we found and what residents valued about living there. They explain the proactive role played by local community development trusts and the contribution made by the many volunteers. Each community’s story illustrates how they overcame challenges common to all new places in the early stages when the establishment of viable local facilities is difficult due to insufficient populations.
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
Graylingwell Park is located to the north-east of Chichester city centre on the site of the former Graylingwell Hospital. The 34-hectare site was sold in 2008 by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to developers Linden Homes and Affinity Sutton who appointed JTP as architects and masterplanners. JTP worked with local people to create a shared vision and masterplan for Graylingwell using a participatory co-design planning process. JTP subsequently prepared the outline planning application and detailed designs for the first phases of new homes.
Graylingwell is a Registered Historic Park and Garden, and a Conservation Area with two Grade II listed buildings, a Scheduled Monument, 472 protected trees and a number of important landmark buildings. The established landscape setting and the historic former Victorian hospital buildings, now converted to a mix of residential, business and community uses, create a distinctive and attractive setting for new homes on the site with a strong sense of identity.
The site has planning permission for 750 new homes along with over 24,000 sq ft of community uses and approximately 64,000 sq ft of commercial space. The economic climate and other factors have delayed the completion of the scheme which was originally scheduled for 2016. To date, over 550 homes are occupied and construction of further phases is well underway. Work is also underway on a McCarthy Stone housing scheme for the over-70s, and plans are progressing for the conversion of a Grade II listed farmhouse and stables (once the home of Anna Sewell, author of Black Beauty).
History
Graylingwell Hospital, formerly the West Sussex County Asylum, was built between 1894 and 1897 on the site of the Graylingwell Farm estate. The hospital was once an almost entirely self-sufficient community, with 60-acre market gardens and two farms worked by able-bodied patients in return for tokens which could be redeemed against purchases in the hospital shop. The Victorian ward buildings radiate from a central service area that
once contained offices, kitchens, a large hall, laundry, stores, water tower and a central boiler room. The wards and several service buildings have been repurposed for residential and community uses. These include the spectacular Grade II listed water tower which has been converted into offices and meeting space for the Chichester Community Development Trust.
Graylingwell Chapel which once served the hospital community, is now a popular community space with a café and associated play area for young children. It is also a venue for evening performances and events. A heritage hub within the chapel narrates, interprets, and connects the historic elements scattered across the Graylingwell site. It uses built heritage, artefacts, original artwork, and oral history to tell the story of the people who lived and worked at Graylingwell during its 100 years as a psychiatric hospital.
The developer’s on-site sales centre, known as The Pavilion, was designed to be repurposed as a restaurant, but following consultation with the community has instead become a wellbeing hub with its own café, a fitness/yoga studio, and suite of therapy rooms. It faces a generous green space surrounded by mature trees onto which events spill out. The green space leads onto The Wilderness; a woodland area used for forest school and youth activities.
Although Graylingwell Hospital originally stood in isolation, surrounded by farmland, it has gradually been subsumed into the outward growth of suburban Chichester and now forms part of a cluster of well-connected neighbourhoods including the new communities of Roussillon Park and Keepers Green.
Summer Fair
The Vision
The importance of the shared Vision co-created with over 350 people from the surrounding community before design work started cannot be underestimated.
The Vision identified Community, Creativity, Neighbourliness and Sustainability as the core values which should guide all future decisions at Graylingwell Park.
The original development partners also committed to the following principles:
– Be 100% Net Zero Carbon;
– Ensure environmental responsiveness is embedded throughout the scheme;
– Be a place that maximises and respects the assets of the buildings and landscape to create a unique identity;
– Reinforce the cultural richness of history, performance and the arts of Chichester;
– Create a complementary place for new residents and local people;
– Be informed and enriched by the active participation of local residents and stakeholders;
– Be successful for posterity through residents’ active ownership and management of the buildings, the public realm and the community, to ensure the sustainability of Graylingwell into the future.
Artist’s Impression 2009
Community Planning Event 2008
The commitment to Zero Carbon in 2008 was pioneering for developers at the time and driven by the ambitious briefs of the then Homes & Communities Agency. The specification included high levels of insulation and thermal performance, and ambitious strategies for renewable energy and sustainable materials. The district heating system fuelled by high-efficiency gas boilers, thermal storage, and arrays of photovoltaic panels is functioning and provides energy and hot water to all phases. Today’s high energy prices and a better appreciation of the climate change emergency are testament to the forward-thinking nature of the Vision, and the design of the first phase of homes at Graylingwell serves as an excellent precedent for future Zero Carbon development.
On visiting Graylingwell in summer 2023 it was clear that many Vision objectives and principles have been carried through and that these have underpinned the success of the place. It was also apparent that the Chichester Community Development Trust under the leadership of Trust Director, Clare de Bathe, has been the driving force behind delivering the Vision.
Chichester Community Development Trust (CCDT)
CCDT is a charity and company limited by guarantee which was established in 2009. The Homes and Communities Agency made creating a community development trust a requirement of the sale of Graylingwell Hospital to the developers. CCDT was initially set up to represent the needs of the new Graylingwell community, and took responsibility for planning and running community buildings, and delivering community development projects, events and activities. Thanks to its success in the initial stages, CCDT’s remit was extended to include representing the new community at Roussillon Park in 2010, and neighbouring Keepers Green in 2019.
CCDT’s remit is to work with the residents of these communities and empower people by developing skills and supporting projects that create local opportunities, employment and build community spirit. This includes creating volunteering opportunities. It is also responsible for encouraging a low-carbon lifestyle amongst residents through the rollout of the Green Travel Plan. CCDT owns and manages community buildings and land, safeguarding these important spaces for the community, and reinvesting profits to create long-term economic, social and environmental benefits.
Summer Fair
Community Visioning
Community Buildings
Apart from The Pavilion, the community buildings within Graylingwell that passed to the CCDT were in extremely poor condition and therefore unusable until funding could be secured for renovation and repurposing. The high heritage value of these buildings meant they were very costly to refurbish which was a major challenge for the newly formed CCDT. Clare de Bathe, who has been Director of CCDT from the outset, explained how they initially ran community events and projects from a temporary portable cabin located next to the chapel.
These facilities focused on supporting community development and low-income families. Later, they moved into a larger steel container and then to a small timber building known as The Lodge. The use of this building demonstrates the agility of the Trust and its ability to do a lot with limited resources. The Lodge served as an office, nursery, a base for pop-up and play events, a youth club, Scout hut and space for yoga classes. In 2020 it became a site hut during construction work on the refurbishment of the chapel and has since been rented to a small coffee roastery, Host Coffee, and renamed The Host Hut. This adds to the distinctive welcoming character of the adjacent chapel, community green space and play area, filling the air with the delicious aroma of fresh coffee!
The Chapel is now a well-used community venue in the heart of Graylingwell Park. CCDT led the fundraising campaign and a successful and very imaginative heritage lottery bid, ensuring the renovated building is an innovative blend of flexible community space and a heritage resource telling the story of the people who once lived and worked in the hospital.
The programme of activities and events run from The Chapel is astonishing in comparison with community centres in neighbourhoods of similar size. It includes baby massage, toddler groups, art classes, community crochet, chatty café sessions, bereavement counselling, youth clubs and many other groups designed to support the community and encourage social interaction. Evening events range from comedy nights, live bands and theatrical performances to barn dances and silent discos.
Bespoke display cabinets in the main chapel house artefacts from the hospital. These include case notes of the former asylum’s inmates, some of which make for shocking reading as they describe the incarceration of unmarried mothers-to-be and of people with special needs who lived their whole lives in Graylingwell. The cabinets are designed to be lifted and moved to clear the space for events. That task is undertaken by Graylingwell’s many volunteers and helps make flexible use of the community space.
Clare de Bathe explained that sustainable repurposing and quality of design are her passions and there is evidence of this throughout the renovation of all CCDT’s buildings. Many materials from the original chapel have been imaginatively re-used including its beautiful parquet flooring which now forms the counter front in the Chapel café and its pendant lights which can now be found in The Pavilion café and Water Tower.
The Chapel
The Chapel
The Chapel
The Pavilion
After its function as a sales centre ended, the Pavilion was passed to CCDT as part of a Section 106 Agreement. During Covid restrictions, CCDT erected a temporary gazebo on its outdoor seating area allowing residents opportunities to meet in the open air and support mental wellbeing. Following the pandemic, extensive consultation with residents led to plans for conversion to a restaurant being changed. In response to the community’s pressing needs a new vision for a health and wellbeing hub emerged. This vision has been successfully delivered by CCDT which has run the building for the past two years and ensured it is affordable and accessible to all. The Pavilion’s main space is a fitness studio with full-height windows opening onto Graylingwell’s major open green space.
The room is deliberately designed to have a tranquil quality and a sensation of being close to nature. The cost of renting the room is only £21/hr which makes it affordable to hold classes of 10-15 people and avoids overcrowding the space. It is fully booked with classes including yoga, spin bikes and armchair aerobics.
The Pavilion includes a café which CCDT has run for the past two years. However, the lease has recently been tendered and when we visited a local couple whose bid was successful were in the process of preparing for its reopening. They already run Little Learners Preschool which now serves the community from a new building (known as The Lodge) at Keepers Green.
Many of Clare’s ten-person CCDT team have strong community links and live locally. Several are ex-teachers and Clare appreciates the skills they brin. “They are flexible and used to doing something with nothing,” she said. Gavin, once a teacher at the school Clare’s children attended, made a sideways career move with her encouragement. He now runs Graylingwell’s Wild Space which involves teaching woodcraft and bushcraft to people of all ages. Wild Space is used as a forest school and for mental health therapy sessions. It includes a shelter which is a popular meeting place for young people.
Support
A key aspect of CCDT’s work is supporting parents with young families and young people. Despite Chichester being an affluent area, it has hidden deprivation and for a number of reasons this is most common amongst families with young children. Graylingwell Park has a high percentage of affordable housing with phases ranging from 40% to 100% affordable. Due to a lack of suitable affordable housing elsewhere, many larger families with five to seven children have been allocated accommodation in the new homes on site. Providing suitable places for children has therefore been a priority. The child-friendly ethos of the Chapel with its indoor soft play and outdoor playground is apparent. What was more surprising to find was the inviting array of toys in the CCDT’s offices at the Water Tower. This was explained by its dual function as a contact centre allowing separated parents to spend time with their children under supervision.
The CCDT Team
The Pavilion
The Water Tower
Community Activities
Reflections
The case study demonstrates that Graylingwell Park has developed into a great place to live with a wide range of opportunities for participating in community life. It illustrates the value of having a consensus Vision and principles from the outset of the development shaped by a co-design process to provide a framework and clear direction for decision making over subsequent years. Delivering the Vision has been the remit of the CCDT, a small, tight-knit organisation under strong leadership which has proved resourceful and resilient in overcoming challenges that have been greater than originally envisaged.
Graylingwell Park illustrates how heritage buildings can be imaginatively repurposed and contribute to a community’s identity. It shows the contribution landscape assets can make to creating a distinctive, characterful place and how these can be effectively managed and maintained for posterity. The place serves as an early exemplar of Zero Carbon development aspirations and the benefits of embedding environmental responsiveness in the design ethos. It also demonstrates the contribution the arts can make to a community’s quality of life and the value of involving residents and local stakeholders in shaping the future direction of the community. The explanation of the CCDT’s work shows how the organisation has provided support tailored to the needs of the community demographic and shown agility in responding to the challenges of Covid and the economic climate. Finally it highlights the value of thinking outside the boundaries of a new neighbourhood and creating a network of complementary facilities that link adjacent communities together and make the most effective use of spaces and funding.
“I have to say that I think Graylingwell is now the best example I can think of in the UK with regard to community development best practice.”
Mark Patchett, Stewardship Consultant & Trust Founder at Community Stewardship Solutions
Variety of Homes
Cholsey Meadows, South Oxfordshire
Cholsey Meadows is a new neighbourhood in the village of Cholsey, South Oxfordshire. It occupies the site of the former Fair Mile Hospital which closed in 2003. The main hospital building, former chapel, and entrance lodge are all individually listed at Grade II and the surrounding parkland landscape is a Grade II Registered Park and Garden.
Like Graylingwell, the hospital was acquired by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) as part of the transfer of 96 hospital sites from the National Health Service in 2005. In 2006 the HCA appointed Linden Homes and Thomas Homes as preferred developers for the site. The HCA’s developer brief and conditions of sale included ambitious environmental sustainability standards, and the requirement to establish a Community Development Trust to foster the creation of community life and deliver a Green Travel Plan. JTP was responsible for the masterplanning, community engagement and for the design of the newbuild homes of the project whilst Woodfield Brady Architects prepared the plans for conversion of existing buildings.
History
The history of the former hospital community provides important context for understanding Cholsey Meadows and its relationship to Cholsey village today. The original hospital, designed by C H Hine opened in 1870 when it was known as The Berkshire, Reading and Newbury Lunatic Asylum. It was built to accommodate 500 patients within a self-contained community. Patients worked on the asylum farm which produced meat, milk, fruit and vegetables, and
made their own clothes, including shoes. In addition to the wards, there were offices, a superintendent’s house, lodge cottage, engineer’s and bailiff’s cottages, dairy farm buildings and a chapel. An 1870 article in The Building describes the asylum as being “favourably situated on the banks of the Thames” with “uninterrupted views of the surrounding country and free access to sun and air. There is no road or building on the south side, which will be laid out for the patients as gardens and airing-grounds.”
In 1878, additional wings and an Entertainment Hall (now Cholsey Great Hall) were added to the main building and the number of patients increased. The hospital was later extended during several periods. In the 20th century, houses and cottages were built for staff, and following World War II several modern utilitarian buildings were added. At its peak in the 1940s, when it became known as Fair Mile Hospital, there were over 1,400 resident patients.
There has always been a close relationship between the village of Cholsey and the hospital. Fair Mile was a major local employer and there were opportunities for patients to socialise with villagers, as well as with each other, as part of their treatment.
Cholsey Meadows
The Vision
The Vision for the Fair Mile site was informed by an extensive community engagement process with 70% of Cholsey village residents participating in the co-design process. The principle that Fair Mile should not operate as a separate community but should become an integral part of the Cholsey village was central to this Vision and has guided all subsequent decision-making about the place, including its renaming as Cholsey Meadows. Villagers were keen to ensure any new facilities in Cholsey Meadows would complement, rather than compete with, existing facilities in the village including the parish’s new community hall; the Pavilion.
Sensitively repurposing the hospital’s heritage buildings and spaces was key to the Vision. JTP’s masterplanning process involved extensive evaluation of the condition and heritage value of the hospital site to determine which buildings could be viably retained and converted. Having decided which buildings would be suitable for conversion and which should be demolished, new buildings were planned utilising the same footprint area to create an attractive composition of old and new. The Grade II listed wards, the lodges, and other retained buildings have now been converted to accommodate 95 apartments. Various later additions to the hospital have been replaced with 220 new homes (30% affordable) sensitively integrated into the parkland landscape.
The principle of encouraging community life and neighbourliness through the design of the new housing clusters and their interface with streets and green spaces was another aspect of the Vision which developed into an important feature of the masterplan and detailed design.
Artist’s Impression 2007
Community Buildings
Although the main use for Cholsey Meadows was to be residential, a mix of commercial and community uses was proposed to ensure the Vision’s social, environmental and economic sustainability objectives for the village and its new neighbourhood would be delivered. During the community planning process the re-use of the hospital’s farm buildings and its community infrastructure, including Cholsey Great Hall, the chapel and the cricket green, was identified as a key opportunity for the wider community. This opportunity is reflected in the masterplan which clusters mixed uses around repurposed heritage buildings to create three hubs each with a different function: the Enterprise Hub, the Sports Leisure and Cultural Hub, and the Social Hub.
Enterprise
The Enterprise Hub is focused on the converted farm buildings at the main entrance to the site from Reading Road, a location well suited to commercial uses due to its good access and visibility from the main road. It now accommodates The Ox Shed, a successful café/bakery and co-working space, and a hairdressing salon.
The Ox Shed
The Ox Shed café opened in 2019 and is a privately run business. Several people we spoke to mentioned that it was a very welcome addition to the area. On the drizzly morning when we visited, all tables in the main café space were full, with people enjoying coffees and cooked breakfasts. There was also a continuous flow of customers coming in to buy bread and baked goods to take away. Behind the main café there is a family room with a relaxed ambience, soft music, a play kitchen and other toys. Two tables were occupied, one with a mother and her children on their first visit, having recently moved to Cholsey, and the other, a regular, with her grandchild. The relaxed ambience meant that everyone soon got talking and the children found instant playmates. Upstairs two people were using the co-working space which was quiet, airy and open to all. The Ox Shed is a business that has responded positively to the needs of the post-pandemic community and is helping overcome the social isolation that can be exacerbated by working from home or moving to a new area.
Sports, Leisure and Culture
The Sports, Leisure and Cultural Hub is focused on the extensively refurbished Cholsey Great Hall, and the cricket green with its new pavilion. These facilities now play a key role in the social life of Cholsey and attract people from the wider area.
The Ox Shed
Great Hall
Cholsey Great Hall is a lively cultural and community venue managed by Cholsey Community Development Trust (CDT). Regular weekly activities include classes in ballet, pilates, martial arts, and yoga as well as choir practice, table tennis and mat bowls. There are family fun days during school summer holidays, stand-up comedy on Saturday nights and a monthly Friday night cinema club. The hall is also popular for children’s parties and used as a rehearsal space for a concert band which generates regular income for the CDT, although the biggest event in terms of income generation is the very popular Burns Night. The CDT has its office within the building and a small complementary therapy business in the basement provides the CDT with additional income.
Cricket green and cricket pavilion
The cricket green at Cholsey Meadows is the location for bigger events that attract people from Cholsey and the surrounding area. These include Bonfire Night, May Day and an annual ‘Party on the Pitch’. Cholsey Cricket Club is based there and plays midweek T20 fixtures in the South Oxfordshire Friendly Cricket League and friendly fixtures on Sundays and midweek evenings. Throughout the summer they run popular youth coaching evenings and social events including barbeques.
Social
The Social Hub was designed to accommodate the existing Fair Mile Sports and Social Club within the repurposed chapel, surrounded by a cluster of live/work units and community uses. Unfortunately, the historic chapel remains unused, although the Fair Mile Sports and Social Club found new premises in the village.
Cholsey Great Hall
Cholsey
Cholsey Great Hall & cricket pavilion
Open space
Cholsey Meadows benefits from an unusually generous and varied network of open spaces. Its historic parkland gardens and cricket field have been conserved to protect the setting of the listed buildings. The large number of mature trees are an important aspect of the neighbourhood’s character and identity. To accommodate the residential community, formal and informal play spaces have been planned along with allotments, a community orchard, shared and private gardens. The interface between buildings and green spaces has been carefully designed to encourage neighbourliness and positive community interaction.
Play
Adjacent to the cricket green is a large play area with a good range of equipment. This was frequently mentioned by residents as a popular space and is open to all. There was even a small group of rain-suited children and their carers making use of it as we passed in the morning drizzle. But play closer to home was also evident with children on scooters and bikes using the quiet streets and courtyards. Between the clusters of new homes there are small intimate greens for doorstep play, all well overlooked by homes.
Nature
The extensive green open space stretching from the cricket green and play area to the River Thames includes beautiful natural meadows as well as reedbeds and ponds forming part of the development’s sustainable drainage system. On our visit, many dog walkers and the occasional runner were out and about, despite the weather, making use of this wonderful, well-maintained natural area which is one of Cholsey Meadows’ key attractions.
Growing food
In the western corner of Cholsey Meadows is a community orchard and a large area of allotments; one of three sites run by Cholsey Parish Council. An aspiration to continue the hospital’s tradition of growing food as a community formed part of the Vision and this was clearly in evidence. The area is divided into allotments of various sizes, some used as traditional allotments for fruit and vegetables and others solely for flowers. We spoke to a Cholsey Meadows resident gathering fresh-cut flowers from one of the smallest allotments who explained how the place brought her so much joy and was an important part of community social life.
Shared and private gardens
Food production was also evident in the space around one of the new mixed tenure apartment blocks which has been informally taken on by residents and cultivated to grow a variety of fruit, vegetables and flowers. The spectacular little garden was one of the most attractive in Cholsey Meadows and probably the most productive.
The walled airing grounds around the converted hospital wards are a distinctive feature of Cholsey Meadows. The historic boundary walls of the airing grounds afford views into the spaces which have been repurposed as shared gardens for residents of the apartments. These spaces are well maintained by the management company.
Delivery challenges
Although many aspects of the Vision have been successfully delivered, the redevelopment of Cholsey Meadows has not proved straightforward. The recession led to a partial redesign of some new buildings, albeit within the footprint of JTP’s masterplan. Some planned live-work and commercial units were changed to residential apartments and some new-build homes redesigned to reduce costs which included reducing sustainable design features. There was also a significant reduction in the funding envisaged for the Community Development Trust which proved particularly challenging.
Sue Jeffs, a Cholsey resident, volunteer and founder member of Cholsey CDT, shared her perspective on how Cholsey had responded to the opportunities and challenges of integrating the new neighbourhood. She was rightly proud of the CDT’s achievements in delivering the Vision, particularly given its reduced funding which resulted in the full-time manager and a development worker being reduced to one part-time member of staff supported by volunteers. She stressed the importance of the £100,000 start-up payment from the developer which ensured the CDT remained solvent during its early days, and acknowledged that with the benefit of hindsight there were things they would have done differently. For example,
it has been difficult for the residents to understand the responsibilities of the different organisations involved in managing Cholsey Meadows (the CDT, Management Company, separate leaseholders’ management company, RSL and Parish Council) and whether they represent fair value for money. Residents are obliged to pay a levy to the CDT as well as various service charges, some of which only apply to leaseholders of the converted apartments. There has been understandable resentment that the CDT benefits all villagers, yet only Cholsey Meadows residents pay the levy. Similarly, the general residents’ service charge pays for maintenance of the landscaped grounds, which are open to the public, as well as street lighting and private roads which have not been adopted by the council. Sue acknowledged that communication between the organisations and residents could be improved for the benefit of all and explained that this was being progressed. She was also frustrated that the transfer of land to the CDT and Parish Council has proved slow and is still incomplete. However, her greatest disappointment is the chapel which remains empty and unused. Since the planned use of the chapel by Fair Mile Sports and Social Club did not materialise no suitable and viable use has been found. This has significantly reduced the anticipated income for the CDT. However, she remains hopeful that a suitable use will be found soon and that additional CDT funding will be available to further enhance Cholsey Meadows’ community facilities.
Water Meadows Allotments
Private Gardens
Reflections
Due to its original design as a secure institution, the scale and character of the heritage buildings at its core, and the extensive landscaped grounds, Cholsey Meadows has a distinctive identity that sets it apart from the rest of the village. It is a neighbourhood with its own identity but also a place that offers multiple opportunities for socialising indoors and outdoors which are open to all residents of Cholsey and the wider area.
The 315 additional homes at Cholsey Meadows increased the population of Cholsey by around 25% from its 2006 size. The village has since seen further growth with the 2021 census recording a population of 4,388 within the parish. Within Cholsey, there are over 60 different social and sporting clubs – some meet in the Pavilion community centre or other venues in the main village, and some meet in Cholsey Great Hall or the cricket pavilion. This is clear evidence of a thriving community life and of integration between the main village and Cholsey Meadows.
Despite many challenges Cholsey Meadows has clearly developed into a great place to live with multiple opportunities for socialising indoors and out. Cholsey Great Hall has become a successful entertainment venue and community resource. The cricket pitch and pavilion play a key role in encouraging integration with the area’s surrounding villages through sports events, coaching and large-scale annual social gatherings. There are many active volunteers. The Ox Shed café has developed into a great community meeting place for all age groups. There are also some small local businesses. The formal and informal landscaped areas appear well maintained and provide a spectacular natural setting for the new homes and repurposed heritage buildings. Heritage landscape features such as the airing ground walls contribute to the distinctive character of the place. Well-overlooked play spaces of different sizes and quiet low trafficked streets provide a safe environment for play close to homes and the inventive cultivation of front gardens provides evidence of residents’ investment in pride of place.
“We feel that we have achieved an enormous benefit to our local community over this time, with well-established community events like Bonfire Night and May Day, attracting hundreds of people from across the village; as well as a whole range of entertainment and events and activities happening at the Cholsey Great Hall.”
Cholsey Community Development Trust, March 2024
Homes of Distinctive Character
Creating Healthy Communities
In May 2023 Homes England published their renewed and expanded mission which placed greater emphasis on improving people’s wellbeing and creating thriving communities. Success was defined as ‘helping people have better lives’, with support focused on transformative projects that will deliver pride of place alongside higher-quality homes. With the new Labour government’s drive to deliver high quantities of new homes at speed, our challenge is to ensure we do not lose sight of Homes England’s mission. New homes must be delivered within high quality neighbourhoods that foster the development of strong communities and support a high quality of life.
The thriving communities, quality of environment and distinctive characters of Graylingwell Park and Cholsey Meadows contrast with the depressing picture of England’s sterile new neighbourhoods detailed in the 2020 Housing Quality Audit for England. The audit evaluated the design of 142 large-scale housing-led development projects across England and concluded that “collectively, we need to significantly raise our game if we are to create the sorts of places that future generations will feel proud to call home”. But, whilst well-designed streets, homes and green spaces are clearly important, design alone cannot create great communities. Early delivery of community infrastructure and proactive community development are also essential.
If the aim is to create well-designed new neighbourhoods that will encourage the development of strong communities, there is much to learn from the exemplars of Graylingwell Park and Cholsey Meadows. Both neighbourhoods are great examples of transformative projects where high quality homes have been delivered in sustainably designed, characterful new neighbourhoods that people clearly take pride in. They show how complex
buildings with high heritage value can be successfully repurposed and landscape assets conserved whilst also providing access for recreation.
Each neighbourhood provides a wide range of opportunities for participating in formal and informal social activities in attractive buildings and outdoor spaces within walking distance of homes. Facilities within the new communities have been planned to promote integration with older and emerging communities nearby. Both have implemented Green Travel Plans. Robust Visions and masterplans co-created with existing communities have clearly been important in providing a sustainable framework for development as economic conditions changed. However, whilst these factors are important, it has been the work of the community trusts that has really made a difference by responding in an agile way to the changing needs of their respective communities as they developed over time. The trusts have effectively mobilised volunteers and maximised the value of assets they inherited to help residents in their communities ‘have better lives’, and although the community trust models are not perfect, the frontline experience of their staff and members is an invaluable resource. Intelligently tapping into this rich resource and building on their understanding of what it takes to support the development of a strong community will definitely help ‘raise our game’.
Community Events
JTP is an award-winning placemaking practice of architects and masterplanners with extensive experience of delivering successful projects for both private and public sectors throughout the UK and Europe.
We are passionate about good buildings and the spaces in between. Our work extends from the city to the building, encompassing all scales – towns, neighbourhoods, streets and spaces; from remaking the old to creating the completely new.
Our goal is to create places where life in all senses can flourish.
JTP
Unit 5, The Rum Warehouse Pennington Street London E1W 2AP
T. +44 (0)20 7017 1780
Marcus Adamas ma@jtp.co.uk