View Road, Cliffe Woods Village, Kent

The scheme proposes residential development and green space.  The green space is designed to have character and purpose and part of its intention is to create a soft edge to Cliffe Woods and be an attractive place filled with nature and exploration for all.

Our work has included advising on landscape character, views, mitigation, LVIA, landscape design, play, and collaborating with the ecologists to achieve biodiversity enhancements.

There is a sensitive woodland to the east (a SSSI and ancient woodland) and therefore the scheme includes an offset from this feature of at least 30m. There is a reservoir to the south-west which, whilst outside of the site boundary, is an interesting feature that hosts a range of wildlife including birds. Our intention is to create a walking route around the reservoir, with a series of information boards to bring nature and the seasons to people’s attention.  Furthermore, the project includes a network of play trails through the scheme, and benches for quiet contemplation.

There is also more to Cliffe Woods. Writer Lena Kennedy and her husband originally bought a plotland here, as she writes in her autobiography, ‘Away to the Woods’ which tells the story of her early life, how she wrote by candlelight, recited poems in the woods and loved her garden there. This old woodland community, known as shack dwellings, because of the shacks that the community lived in, is now the Cliffe Woods village that we know today. ‘Lena Kennedy Gardens’ is just off View Road.

The scheme was granted permission, and we are now working with Esquire and the wider team on the technical design stages.