The client:
Retirement Villages Group Ltd have an ambitious £2bn plan to build 5,000 retirement homes across 40 urban sites in the UK over the next decade. With one in four people in the UK expected to be aged over 65 by 2037, Retirement Villages Group are at the forefront of a rapidly moving Later Living sector, combining technology, design and community at the heart of their projects.
The brief:
Keeble Brown won a competitive bid to develop a series of engagement activities with the local community and stakeholders, for Retirement Villages Group’s important new site in West Byfleet, in the Surrey Borough of Woking.
Our response:
Keeble Brown engaged with the local community for both the Section 73 and Reserved Matters applications.
We quickly established close working links with community representatives which led to the creation of the West Byfleet Liaison Group, a useful forum for identifying any potential issues and ensuring local communities are kept informed.
Feedback from councillors and members of the public has been positive and the team has been thanked for keeping them updated with the consultation. Several community groups, such as the West Byfleet Community Gardening Group, have expressed their excitement about the opportunities the new development will bring to the village.
The outcome:
By building relationships with stakeholders, decision-makers and the community through our dedicated project website, social media and liaison groups, Keeble Brown and the consultant team were able to secure the development unanimous support from Woking Borough Council’s planning committee.
"We would like to thank Retirement Villages Group Ltd and their consultants, Keeble Brown, for the way in which they have worked with representative groups from within the Community through social media, to explain their vision, and for their willingness to listen to constructive feedback".
- Woking Borough Council