Plans to create a new village on the grounds of an historic Worcestershire hotel have been submitted.
Developers have submitted a planning application for the Impney Estate, north of Droitwich, which would see more than 120 homes built to create a new village, ‘Little Impney’.
The plans also include a restoration of the Grade II heritage building, Impney Hall, at the centre of the estate, allowing it to reopen as a hotel having closed down in 2020.
Stephen Proctor, director of the firm responsible for designing Little Impney, Proctor and Matthews Architects, said: “It is wonderful to be working on the design of the new village within the inspiring historic setting of the Impney Hall Estate.
“This will straddle both sides of the existing John Corbett Way – a footpath and bridleway which connects the estate to the town of Droitwich Spa – bringing life and activity back to this once working and now underused part of the estate.”
A master plan for the estate has been put together by LDA Design with a planning application now submitted to Wychavon District Council.
Custodians of the estate, Impney Ltd, want to provide a sustainable future for Chateau Impney and the surrounding 140-acre estate.
The hall itself, built in 1873 for saltworks magnate John Corbett, is now in need of extensive restoration and improvement.
It had been used as a hotel and conference centre for some time, which resulted in what LDA Design describe as “unsympathetic” extensions, many of which are now “obsolete”.
The plans submitted would see the hotel and restaurant restored while many of the more recent add-ons would be demolished, making way for 127 homes as well as business space.
Little Impney would be split into two halves, one described as a “formal geometric ‘parterre’ of courtyard homes” and the other “a more relaxed geometry of housing clusters”.
At the centre of this will be a village square while allotments and community orchards will fill the rest of the space.
There are also plans to improve access to the site.
John Corbett Way will be enhanced while new pedestrian and cycle routes will connect with Droitwich and the rail station.
Clare Wilks, a director at LDA Design and project lead for Impney, said: “The remaking of the Estate landscape will create a strong sense of place, that will foster community and inclusion, attract long-term investment and restore heritage.”
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