IN Brief:
- Planning consent covers 91 additional Mapplewell homes, with construction due to start immediately.
- The wider Mapplewell scheme already includes 239 homes in its first phase on former opencast mining land.
- Vistry has separately sold another 70 Blackmoorfoot homes to its affordable housing partner, Vico Homes.
Vistry has obtained planning permission for 91 additional homes in the second phase of its Mapplewell development near Barnsley, extending a housing programme on land previously used for opencast mining. Construction is scheduled to begin immediately, and the new phase will include homes ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom detached properties. Vistry says approximately half of the latest 91 homes will be managed by affordable housing partner Vico Homes, reinforcing the mixed-tenure structure of the scheme.
At Mapplewell, Vistry is already building the first 239-home phase, around half of which will be managed as affordable housing by Vico Homes. The second permission takes the combined programme at that site to 330 homes, but does not mean that the approved second-phase properties have been built. The development occupies former opencast mining land about three miles from Barnsley town centre, off the A61, and is allocated for development in the council’s Local Plan. Moving from industrial use to residential construction involves preparing a connected layout of homes, roads, drainage, utilities and public areas.
Construction of the new 91-home phase is due to begin immediately under the approved planning arrangements. The mix of apartments and detached family houses will require plot-by-plot coordination with the first phase, particularly for access routes and service connections. No separate contract value or programme completion date has been announced for the latest phase. Ground design and housing specifications will need to meet the consent and the requirements of individual plots, but the developer has not identified unusual foundations or a particular remediation technique in its October update.
A second element of the company’s Yorkshire update concerns Blackmoorfoot near Huddersfield, where Vistry has completed a further sale of 70 homes to Vico Homes. This transaction is separate from the Mapplewell planning consent. At Blackmoorfoot, Vistry is delivering 469 homes within a 700-home wider development; Miller Homes is responsible for the other 231 homes. The total site scheme and Vistry’s own delivery commitment should therefore be reported separately rather than combined as though one contractor is building the entire development.
The new Blackmoorfoot agreement adds to a forward sale of 154 homes to Vico Homes announced in January. Vistry says the remaining homes within its own allocation will be provided for private rent or open-market sale, with the latter marketed through its Bovis Homes brand. The location is about 3.5km south-west of Huddersfield town centre and incorporates former industrial land and agricultural land. Its proposed layout includes green corridors, a central park and outdoor play areas, with a quarter of the site assigned to green space and a stated target of 10% biodiversity net gain.
Mapplewell and Blackmoorfoot are progressing through different stages of Vistry’s partner delivery model. The Barnsley consent authorises construction of a further group of homes, whereas the new Blackmoorfoot transaction identifies the affordable housing partner for properties within a larger established programme. Vistry’s 469 homes at Blackmoorfoot sit alongside 231 being delivered by Miller Homes, and the two builders’ allocations are not interchangeable. The company has announced no occupation or handover date for either the newly consented Mapplewell homes or the additional 70 properties sold at Blackmoorfoot.
Vico Homes, which manages more than 33,000 homes across northern England, is the affordable housing partner at both sites. Its involvement gives the developments a defined institutional route for a substantial number of completed properties, rather than relying solely on individual sales. The structure can also influence construction sequencing, with handover of partner homes planned against contractual requirements for completion, inspection and acceptance. The companies have not disclosed detailed handover dates or the specification of each tenure group, so those arrangements remain to be confirmed as delivery progresses.
The former opencast use at Mapplewell places land reuse within a live housing construction programme. Former mining sites can require ground investigation to inform foundation design, drainage and any appropriate treatment, although the precise measures depend on the site’s condition and approved engineering design. Vistry has not disclosed site-specific ground interventions with the new consent. The confirmed progress is instead a second planning approval and an intended construction start alongside the existing development, together with a significant affordable housing allocation.
Across the two sites, Vistry’s own planned programme totals 799 homes: 330 at Mapplewell and 469 at Blackmoorfoot. Miller Homes’ further 231 at Blackmoorfoot belong to the wider 700-home site total, not to Vistry’s 799. The next construction evidence will come from progress on Mapplewell’s newly approved plots and, subsequently, completed homes and handovers at both developments. No firm completion dates for those latest phases have been published.
