Plans for a housing development on the site of a former Fleet nursery have been re-submitted to South Holland District Council.
The original proposal for a cluster of nine properties on the site of the old Fleet Nursery, was rejected by members of the planning committee in January.
The refusal has led to the agent making the point that the application was submitted after advice was sought from the council and there were no substantive objections.
“While they appreciate that any advice is given informally and not binding, it does nevertheless influence their decision-making in whether to spend time and resources on pursuing a scheme, and having been offered the same advice on more than one occasion, they proceeded with the scheme in good faith,” says a statement from the agent Clive Wicks Associates, of Sleaford.
The statement added that there may still be an appeal against the refusal of the original proposal.
“This is an option they [the applicant] are actively considering. In the event that an appeal is is lodged, this would run in parallel to and not prejudice the ability for the council to determine this revised proposal on its own merits,” says the document.
The updated proposal is now for eight units and the type of housing has been “amended to ensure that the development is respectful to the established scale of buildings on site and character of the general area.”
Included in the changes are a pair of semi-detached rural cottages to the road frontage.
“The site is not located within any designated areas and is not within a flood zone, therefore, other than the existing physical constraints of the site, there are no fundamental barriers to the proposed redevelopment,” says the design and access statement with the submission.
The business was bought in 2002 and was run as a nursery and commercial growing business until the death of the applicant’s husband in 2010.
After seven years of trading the business is no longer viable, says the document.
“The business has operated at significant losses and the client has been unable to take a wage from the nursery. There is no profit within the business and, despite efforts to diversify (part of the site is rented to another business), it is clear that his operation is no longer sustainable.
“It is with a heavy heart that the client has to consider other, viable opportunities for the site and as such, seeks to re-develop it to provide much needed housing stock,” adds the
document.
Access to the site would be from Fleet Road with hard and soft landscaping.
