Plans to build more than 70 homes in Spalding have been approved, despite a lack of affordable properties or any contributions to the area.
Seagate Homes applied to South Holland District Council for permission to build 76 properties on land off Horseshoe Road and said that the project would not be able to go ahead if it also had to pay towards infrastructure in a ‘Section 106’ planning deal, writes Local Democracy Reporter Oliver Castle.
At a planning committee meeting last week Coun Chris Brewis was critical of the lack of contributions towards the likes of schools or healthcare in the proposal.
“It means that the costs of those things will now have to pour on the local public purse and I take a dim view of that,” he said. “If they can’t afford to put them in then hand the land over to someone who can.”
However, Coun Jack Tyrrell said: “This is our viability study. It’s us who say they (the applicant) can’t afford to do it. If we are saying they can’t afford it, we can’t go against that.”
The site is close to the future path of the Spalding Western Relief Road and highways bosses wanted £461,700 towards funding this mothballed project.
The NHS wanted £69,521.76 towards additional healthcare capacity and education chiefs wanted £993,299.46 for schools.
The developer says these payments would not make the project viable.
Planning officers said that the benefits of the development outweighed the potential harms and officers concluded that the applicant should be allowed to get away without making any contributions. Councillors voted in line with this recommendation.
The development will include eight one-bedroom, 17 two-bedroom, 45 three-bedroom and six four-bedroom homes.
The layout will include detached, semi-detached and terraced properties, together with a group of four one-bedroom quarter houses, with road access off Horseshoe Road.
