Plans for 136 homes at Wellstones car park in Watford

Telereal Trillium says the car park in Wellstones is "underutilised" and says its plans can provide "much needed" new homes and "high quality" commercial space.

The land by the Telephone Exchange, off the ring road, is currently used for car parking but Telereal has set its sights on changing that.

The company. which manages an £8 billion portfolio of properties, wants to build a mixture of studio, one, two, and three bed flats totalling 136 homes.

The Wellstones car park is shown within the red lines. Credit: Google Maps (Image: Google Maps)

It will reportedly include affordable housing but the initial proposals - which include a virtual exhibition ahead of the expected submission of an official planning application - do not state exactly how many units will be designated as affordable.

The building heights have also not been specified but Telereal says it has scaled down its plans in response to neighbouring properties towards the south of the site and Holy Rood Catholic Church.

With the area benefitting from "strong transport links", no car parking spaces are being proposed but the exhibition says there will be 158 cycling spaces.

Three commercial units are also proposed which Telereal says will bring employment opportunities.

The virtual exhibition launched on March 11 and the consultation remains open until March 22. An in-person event was also held on March 15.

A screenshot of an image taken from the virtual exhibition for this proposed scheme in Wellstones, and how it could look from the ring road. Credit: Telereal Trillium At this stage, Watford Borough Council has not received a planning application. If and when one is submitted, the public will have another opportunity to have their say.

Development of this car park is likely because the council has included it in a list of sites deemed appropriate to build on to meet Government housing targets, as part of its local plan.

The plan, which is due to be adopted this autumn, indicated 40 homes could be built on this land which is lower than the 136 being proposed by Telereal.

However, a council spokesperson explained in February that its plan allocates for around 626 homes per year up until 2038 which is below the Government target of 784.

As a result, sites not included in the local plan could be developed to meet the targets or developments included in the plan could become larger, which is what could be happening at Wellstones car park.

Visit https://wellstonescarpark.consultationonline.co.uk/ to view the exhibition and give feedback.