Self-build row over planning refusal

The recommended and passed refusal of planning permission for self-build dwellings in Crowland has been described by a councillor as “immensely sad”.

During the lively discussion at the South Holland District Council Planning Committee meeting last Wednesday (September 5), the committee discussed an outline application for the erection of up to six dwellings north of Crowland Garden Centre, with access from James Road.

Officers recommended refusal for the application, stating that “it is poorly related to the existing built-up residential area of Crowland” and “there are sequentially preferable sites in food risk terms”.

During the meeting, Coun Chris Seymour, who supported the officer’s decision, said: “I like the idea of self build but I rather think this is in the wrong place. It’s outside the main part of town, in open country and its industrial sites around it.”

In opposition, Coun Chris Brewis said an opportunity was being missed. “This is just the kind of innovative ground-breaking development we ought to be encouraging in our district because the idea that all buildings have to be built by major or middle sized developers when in this country, unfortunately because of our poor national rules on housing, we’ve built the most rubbish housing in the whole of northern Europe

“We could have some self build of a high quality there, which has been tried in several other areas. I think it’s immensely sad.

“It is almost on the edge of Crowland and people opposite would decide where they would want to go.”

The merits of self-build applications were then discussed.

Coun Harry Drury also supported the application.

He said: “There is a severe lack of plots available in South Holland for people to build their individually designed houses they want to live in.

“There is an extremely strong market out there for it and there’s a lot of developers going up with multiple houses, whether it be a smaller developer building 10 or a larger developer building 1,000, they’re still built by developers and there are very few affordable building plots out there for people to build their own house.”

Planning Committee chair, Roger Gambba-Jones, reminded the committee the developers could still use the land. “The government has not given us the powers to restrict it to say to people you must build it yourself,” he said. “This is clearly an unsustainable location which is one of the reasons the officers are making the recommendation.”

The committee voted eight in favour of refusal with six against.