Spin-off benefits as 1,550 new Holbeach homes poised for approval

A wide-ranging raft of benefits has been agreed by a developer looking for permission to build 900 homes in Fen Road, Holbeach.

And it’s crunch time for a separate application for another 650 homes just a mile away in a development known as Holbeach West.
Next to the homes site is the location for University of Lincoln’s proposed centre of excellence in agri-food.

Planning applications for all three schemes are up for discussion by South Holland planning councillors next Wednesday (Nov 2), with officers recommending approval for each.

Outline permission for the huge Manor Farm scheme in Fen Road was agreed last year, subject to a satisfactory S106 planning gain agreement. Ashley King Developments has since agreed to provide land on the site and £2.16million capital for a one-entry primary school, plus £1million towards the cost of a new roundabout at Peppermint Junction, where the A151 meets the A17.

There is also £150,000 for improving traffic signals and pedestrian crossings in the town centre, capital and running costs for a new CallConnect bus, £5,000 for a town centre regeneration competition and a pledge to restore the listed Manor Farm House for use as a community facility.

The 650-home plan is on land between the A17 and Spalding Road. It is poised for approval subject to agreement of a S106 agreement by joint applicants Lincolnshire County Council and Mr RH and Mr A Goodley covering affordable housing, open space, healthcare facilities, highways, town centre improvements and education.

The agri-food centre for excellence is said to be “crucial in enabling the [nearby] National Centre for Food Manufacturing to become a national robotics and automation demonstration centre.”

A third application in the Holbeach West masterplan – 200 dwellings to be built by Bovis Homes – is not being considered at this stage.

Meanwhile, a plan for 19 homes in Church Street – on the site where Ashley King Developments had planned to build a new medical centre to bring the town’s two GP surgeries under one roof – is recommended for approval. The application is by Long Sutton firm Seagate Homes.