Planning permission has been granted for 188 new homes in Holbeach.
After an hour-long debate by South Holland District Council’s planning committee on Wednesday (May 31), members agreed 12-2 in favour of King Bros (Butchers) Ltd’s proposal for an 8.4 hectare site off the town end of Damgate.
Councillors were generally pleased with the plan in terms of layout, density and the developer’s proposed financial contributions towards education (£1,048,968) and health provision (£83,472).
So much so that committee chairman and self-confessed “cynic” Coun Roger Gambba-Jones (Spalding Wygate) felt the application was “almost too good to be true” and put down a marker should any “backtracking” occur by the developer in future.
He said: “They are willing to meet the affordable housing requirement; they are willing to put over £1million for one of the key requirements of all communities, in education; they are willing to meet a provision for healthcare.
“The site density is lower than what we have been presented with before and the layout is very good with the adopted roads and a pleasant pond which people will enjoy as an amenity.”
He added: “Should the applicant begin to backtrack in any way on any of those key points in there, then this committee has to be given the opportunity to review this application.”
Coun Bryan Alcock (Crowland and Deeping St Nicholas) also raised an eyebrow at how favourable the application was but remained unconvinced that developers had turned a corner and were now automatically submitting plans which the committee would definitely like.
“The reason is they desperately want planning permission on this site,” he surmised.
There was sympathy from some members about nearby residents’ concerns – expressed by Fleet and Holbeach parish councillor Val Gemmell as a public speaker – about loss of a greenfield area used for leisure walking. She also pointed to previous concerns over highways and lack of infrastructure not yet being addressed.
However, county highways had approved the proposals and little else had enough weight in planning terms in order to support a refusal.
Coun Rodney Grocock (Moulton, Weston and Cowbit), who had heard nothing to support his only concern of flooding risk, moved the officer’s recommendation to grant permission.
That was seconded by Coun Harry Drury (Spalding St Mary’s) who said Holbeach would benefit from inward investment on the back of the population increase. He said the development of Tesco in Holbeach had kept people in the town who might otherwise have gone elsewhere to shop.
He acknowledged that some businesses had closed but said it was important to start now in building the houses which would then lead to investment in the town on the back of increased population.
Former Holbeach resident Coun Laura Eldridge (Long Sutton) remained concerned about what would effectively be a cul-de-sac development having only one access point and the 700 daily vehicle movements it might expect when complete.
Ward member and parish councillor Paul Foyster is concerned by the number of new homes for Holbeach being approved and urged the committee to refuse the plan. However, he is not a committee member and could not vote. In the end, only Coun Chris Brewis (Sutton Bridge) and Coun Andy Tennant (Long Sutton) did not back the plan.
The mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced properties is set to be 34 two-bedroom, 104 three-bedroom, 46, four-bedroom and four five-bedroom.
