RESIDENTS saw how the Louisburg Barracks development is taking shape at the project’s first consultation session since the developer was chosen.

The event, on November 12 at the Phoenix Theatre, outlined where the project is to date and allowed people to have their say.

A hybrid planning application for the site was granted in November 2014 and included outline permission for 500 homes and full permission for a 970-metre section of the relief road.

Key to the project, the new road, work for which is under way (pictured), will pass through the centre of the development. This northern section of the road has been dubbed “Louisburg Avenue”.

Owner of the barracks, the Homes and Communities Agency, recently announced that Leicestershire-based Barratt Developments would create the site.

At the consultation, the public’s first real chance to engage with the new developer, Barratt outlined a raft of benefits, targets and ideas for the scheme.

Included in this was a figure of 20 per cent affordable housing, integrated with private homes to be “indistinguishable in design to ensure a mixed and balanced community”.

The Louisburg development will also “address the key principles of the green town vision”, with Barratt working on an “enhancement to biodiversity” and creating a “green neighbourhood”, it was said.

New “well-designed quality homes that minimise energy use” and a combination of water-saving measures will contribute to this aim, people heard.

Although the number of parking spaces per unit remains at a fairly standard, even generous, figure, Barratt insists it would “reduce car use through well structured and connected neighbourhoods”.

Another hope of residents has been that a sense of character be retained and, where possible, the site’s rich history kept in mind when the building begins.

Addressing this, Barratt outlined its heritage strategy which has been “an important consideration in the evolution of the design proposals for the site”.

The barracks and the wider area has changed over the years as it has served the military. But a number of notable buildings - Amherst House, Broxhead House, the Phoenix Theatre and Garrison Church of St George - are to be retained.

But although keeping some barrack buildings “has been considered in detail”, due to the “form of the buildings and their strength being in their block structure”, the “heritage benefits” would be significantly compromised by the wider development. As such, they will be demolished.

Instead “an integrated approach to heritage” will be taken, “utilising the depth of history” to “embed the heritage in the public realm of the new development”. Various measures, such as “heritage by retention”, “numbers”, “colours”, “structure” and “reclamation” will be used.

For example, there are plans to plant 223 trees, representing the number of horses historically in each brigade. A focal green space, Parade Park, measuring 103 metres square, will represent the 103 Royal Field Artillery Brigades stationed at the barracks. There will be 1907 horseshoe prints in the paving to reflect the year the barracks opened. And the colours red and blue will feature prominently in the design to represent the colours of the Royal Artillery.

Whitehill Town Council leader Adam Carew said: “We have yet to have our formal meeting with Barratt and the Homes and Communities Agency, but we are excited at this development and those residents who attended had a great opportunity to discuss all aspects of this development at the recent consultation.

“We are all united in wanting Louisburg to be an exemplar development we can be really proud of.

“There are some really exciting proposals here but these are early days. Those of us who have seen the exhibition feel there is a great opportunity for the development to be enhan-ced and tailor made even further to our local area.

“The town council is looking forward to meeting Barratt and the Homes and Communities Agency shortly to discuss their proposals in more detail.”

With Quebec Park, which will have 100 homes, the transformation of Louisburg is the start of the town regeneration, which will see 3,500 new homes and a raft of new facilities in the town.

The old Sergeants’ Mess, Broxhead House, will be transformed into a business and enterprise centre, and a Future Skills Centre will be built to provide training, especially building skills.

Barratt will compile feedback from consultations and develop a more detailed plan for the Louisburg over coming months.