South Holland District Council (SHDC) is being recommended not to raise objections to the planning applications for the first two sections of the Spalding Western Relief Road.
Lincolnshire County Council’s planning committee will decide on whether the most northerly and southern sections of the proposed single carriageway road are given the go-ahead.
But SHDC could object to it and its response will be determined at the district council’s own planning committee meeting next Wednesday (May 29).
SHDC’s principal planning officer Polly Harris-Gorf recommends the authority’s committee do not object to both applications for single carriageway roads in her reports.
The report states: “The evidence shows that, with the levels of growth planned for Spalding, in conjunction with the planned increases in rail crossing downtime, should the SWRR not be delivered then the traffic impacts upon the town would be severe.
“For this reason, it is considered that the SWRR is critical to the delivery of the growth strategy for town.”
The most southerly section runs 1.2km from Spalding Common and includes a bridge over the railway line and new roundabout for the Holland Park development.
Also to be considered is the northerly section from Spalding Road and Enterprise Way to an around 4,000 home development proposed in the South East Lincolnshire Local Plan.
Residents close to the proposal of this section had raised objections including helping set up the protest group Spalding and Pinchbeck Against the Relief Road.
The SHDC planning officer report though states: “It is accepted that these proposals, both in themselves and in association with the delivery of subsequent housing development, will significantly impact on views across the site; and that views from dwellings south of Vernatt’s Drain will be impacted by this proposal and subsequent housing development.
“Nevertheless, these proposals are now embedded within the framework of the adopted SELLP.
“In addition, it is not considered that the proposals for the road and bridge associated with Section to the SWRR would be so close to the dwellings to the south of Vernatt’s Drain that an objection could be raised on the basis of either loss of view or loss of currently open land.
“It also needs to be borne in mind that the visual impact of the road and bridge are proposed to be mitigated by significant landscaping to soften the wider impact of the structures themselves.”
It continues on the thousands of homes proposed in the local plan that could rely on the relief road: “It is important, in this context, that we focus on the proposals before us and the significant benefits they will bring forward, in isolation, in facilitating growth and securing improvements to the existing highways network; particularly in facilitating ease of movement along Spalding Road and improving the existing junction at Enterprise Way.
“It is, nevertheless, critical that we recognise the longer term benefits the delivery of subsequent sections of the SWRR will bring in terms of securing traffic relief to the town as a whole whilst at the same time facilitating sustainable levels of longer-term growth.”
The report concludes: “It is considered that the design of the proposed road scheme would not adversely affect the character or appearance of the surrounding area and takes the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of the area and the way it functions.”
In a statement included in the report, Coun Angela Newton said many residents felt the applications “could be premature” given the county council had said it would look at changing the route of the central sections.
There’s also concerns the funding for the middle three sections has yet to be confirmed.
However, as the road is being created in five different sections, the report says each section should be “determined on their individual merits”.
Thus the report recommends the district council does not object though the conditions include its Environmental Health team asking for more evidence on the short to medium term impact the road will have on air quality.
