The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Plans to build hundreds of new homes in Pinchbeck look set to go ahead.
A hybrid planning application has been submitted by Ashley King Developments for land at Yews Farm.
Part of the application is for full permission for 100 homes on the site.
The second part is for outline permission for up to 300 homes as part of the same development.
Members of South Holland District Council’s planning committee are due to discuss the plans at a meeting next Wednesday.
A report says permission for the 100 homes should carry a condition of providing seven affordable homes and an £802,800 contribution to the new relief road.
It adds that the developer “cannot, however, meet with the wider costs associated with providing either 25 per cent affordable housing or those additional contributions sought towards education, the NHS and others.”
The money towards the relief road will go towards the expected £28m total cost of section 5 of the road.
“It is critically important that the minimum required levels of developer funding are secured from directly-related housing schemes,” the report says.
“If the necessary levels of S106 developer contributions are not secure from housing development associated with Section 5, there is very little likelihood of further sections of the Spalding Western Relief Road being delivered in the short to medium term,” it adds.
The developer submitted a report to the committee to support a reduction in the number of affordable homes.
The application met with a raft of opposition, including from South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes.
“The primary concerns of my constituents, and I , are the over development of this site and the loss of any distinction between Pinchbeck and Spalding,” said a letter from him.
“Any developer seeking to expand the village to this extent must be made to make a substantial financial contribution to those local services, not just the ‘relief road,’ it adds.
The total development for the first phase of the Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) at Vernatt’s Drain is 1,000 new homes.
Developer contribution to the scheme, at £8,028 per house, would equate to £8.83m towards the £28m outlay for the road.
The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust was also among objectors.
It has “concerns that the HRA screening assessment did not cover the Baston Fen Special Area of Conservation,” says the report.
Objections from the public included fears about overdevelopment, impact on the rural setting, increase in traffic, impact on wildlife and the strain on infrastructure.
The parish council also objected to the application as the properties ‘will have a huge impact’ on the existing community.
“The Vernatts urban extension is expected to meet a significant part of both Spalding and the wider districts housing needs and help fund the delivery of the Spalding Western Relief Road.
The 16-hectare site is currently agricultural land and the principle of residential development has been established by virtue of the Local Plan.
For the outline application to secure 25 per cent affordable housing, requests were made for a full education contribution (formula based), healthcare contribution of £660 per dwelling and £8,028 per dwelling towards the Spalding Western Relief Road.
