Plans to build 150 homes in Weston refused

An application to build 150 homes in Weston has been thrown out by planners following a meeting last nigtht.

Persimmon Homes had last month been told to look again at the proposal by South Holland District Council Planning Committee who raised concerns over the number of private drives, bin collections and car parking arrangements on site.

But after that deferral Persimmon only offered what planning officer Richard Fidler described as ‘minor changes’ to the 13 waste collection points planned for the site.

The site is allocated for housing in the South Lincolnshire Local Plan, but for only 135 homes with a previous outline application having been granted for 75 homes.

John Hayes described the application as “so out of tune with local people’s wishes, so out of keeping with national policy and so excessive in its character to warrant my strong objection”.

“This is the very worst kind of large scale, crudely designed, crassley constituted planning application,” he continued. “They are ubiquitous crassly designed buildings that bear no connection to South Holland or Weston.”

Katie Dowling development planner of Persimmon Homes told the meeting the application did meet planning policy: “Following the concerns  raised by the committee members we’ve reviewed the layout and amet with officers to address the matter.

“Building beautiful is at the forefront of our design approach.”

But coun Anthony Casson, the ward member for Weston, said: “I can’t see much difference from the last time. All they’ve done is put a bit of screening around the refuse places.

“I don’t think that will stop people from putting their rubbish out early.

“They’re filthy places and putting a screen up might make it worse.”

Councillors re-iterated concerns there were too many private drives that would be unadopted, too many bin collection points where rubbish could mount up and not enough parking for the houses.

Towards the end of the 90 minute debate the initial vote to go with planning officer’s recommendations and approve the application was voted down by seven votes to six.

Coun Jim Astill raised a possible second deferral saying a refusal application was likely to be appealed.

Coun Andrew Woolf moved refusal on the grounds of design: “It’s not in keeping with the village of Weston and we also have the bin collection points.”

Despite planning officer Phil Norman stating that he didn’t believe it was out of character with the village, councillors voted to refuse it seven to five with one abstention.

* Coun Casson had earlier also raised concerns about an existing sewerage problem, something the council sought legal advice on and spoke with Anglian Water about.

Planning chair James Avery said it was a separate issue and the application could “not be the vehicle to have that discussion” as the water company had not raised objections.

He added: “I would say South Holland District Council should be big enough to pick up Anglian Water and the lead flood authority (Lincolnshire County Council) to resolve the issues outside of this planning process.”