The “Dallington Gateway North” site lies to the north of York Way, between the recently developed housing on the south side of this road and Harlestone Firs woodland further to the north. It is around 5 hectares (12.35 acres) in area. It has firm physical boundaries and a strong sense of enclosure created by the extensive blocks of woodland to the north and east. 

The site’s well-enclosed character together with its close relationship with existing housing areas, makes it ideally suitable for a modest scale, high quality new residential development. It also provides unique opportunities, including the ability to offer formal connections and direct and convenient links into Harlestone Firs’ leisure and recreational routes for the local community to enjoy.

The land occupies a strategic location at a key roundabout intersection of Harlestone Road and York Way, which will become part of the principal route network known as the North West Relief Road (NWRR). Construction of the NWRR has commenced and is being delivered, in part, to unlock and support the existing major investment and economic and housing growth allocated by the Council, including the ‘sustainable urban extensions’ at Dallington Grange and at Harlestone Park. The NWRR has also been designed in anticipation that it will also accommodate future housing and employment growth requirements that the Council is currently planning for, including through the safeguarding of land between this site and York Way to enable its future dualling.

This site forms residual land, left over following the allocation and ongoing construction of these sustainable urban extensions and York Way and the NWRR. As such, the overall character of the site is therefore heavily influenced by the recently developed housing and road infrastructure to the south and west, with woodland to the north and east, effectively severing any visual or physical relationship to the wider countryside. It is also now detached from the wider agricultural land and its size and location means it no longer has a functional or viable agricultural purpose.