Major 265-home expansion of Peterborough village moves closer

A major expansion of Eye has moved step closer as planning approval to a series or related matters.

Peterborough’s City Council’s Planning and Environmental Protection Committee voted unanimously to approve a reserved matters application in relation to the site’s appearance, layout, landscaping and scale.

Outline planning permission for 265 new homes on land just off Eyebury Road to the east of the village- to be built by Allison Homers- was granted in December to allow the development in principle.

The 13.1 hectare site proposed for the development would include a mixture of two to five bedroom homes, 30% of which would be designated as affordable housing.

Provision has also been made for one hectare of land to be given over to Eye Primary School to allow the school, which would border the new development, to expand to meet increasing demand for spaces. Further land would be given over to allotments and nearly 3 hectares of public open space.

Plans were previously given the go ahead despite LP40 of the Peterborough Local Plan setting out the number of new homes that should be built on the site should be no more than 250.

Plans were initially for 300 homes, this was then reduced to 284, with the most recent further reduction taking that down to 265, still above the figure outlined in the local plan.

The decision to call in the application was made by Eye, Thorney and Newborough ward councillor Steve Allen due to concerns regarding the design of cycle and footpaths, drainage and a shortfall of visitor parking.

The development has only 34 visitor parking spaces allocated, a shortfall of 19 to the figure recommended by local policy.

Fellow Eye, Thorney and Newborough ward councillors Cllrs Rylan Ray and Mark Ormston, along with resident Dale McKean spoke against the application at the meeting.

Cllr Ray said: “The size of the development will bring provision of over 700 new vehicles to a rural village. These will also be using our road network and Highways have already acknowledged that there is little scope for improvements to the local road network to deal with this,

"As such, there was mitigation to enhance local walking routes and cycle routes going throughout the development. These plans do not meet the recommended standards for width and we’ve got routes identified as getting enhancements that are now being left as well-trodden paths.

Cllr Ormston added: “This plan has some wonderful features, however, there are a number of elements which fall short of the benchmarks of ‘high quality’ or’ enhanced.’

"There are some existing well-trodden footpaths, not being enhanced but maintained.

“For those who attended the site visit, imagine the winter months on a trodden grass path like the one we were standing on. Imagine a parent with a pushchair, a child going to school or indeed anyone of any age walking along a grass path to get to the shops and amenities in Eye in the autumn and winter.

"Also at the site visit, we stood by a ditch with no safety fence, a considerable safety risk.

"The site is right next to the school, the matters we are considering today are of upmost importance. Might potential overdevelopment be the reason behind some of the promised enhancements and car parking spaces falling short?”

Mr McKean said: “This is an overdevelopment of this sit. It does not comply with a number of local authority and national planning polices. This number of houses will lead to a cramped and unsafe site for future residents and those Eye residents using the two new school entrances.”

George Wilkinson, who spoke on behalf of Allison Homes at the meeting, said: “The site will make a notable contribution to the housing land supply and the affordable housing provision in Peterborough.

"The development will also contribute to over £1.3m of local infrastructure improvements.

"Allison Homes has worked closely with the planning authority and consultees to positively address all comments raised and the proposal in front of you today has no objections raised by technical statutory consultees. The proposals represent a high quality development.”

In deciding to approve the application, Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald said: “I believe it would be a good development of quality. The development won’t overly impact the highways network. This application is not perfect but we do need housing and affordable housing."

Cllr Christian Hogg said: “There are aspects of this development I’m not overly keen. It would be nice of the pathway was wider for the school but ultimately, this is a lovely development. There’s nothing wrong with the way the houses are laid out and the affordable housing is a big tick.

Cllr Brian Rush said: "This looks a good quality scheme. The developers have given up land for open space and to the school. There are issues with the fencing that can not be changed but a lot of problems have been sorted out by working with planning officers and this is a very good scheme."

Cllr Heather Skibsted added: “This is a very high quality development and I am particularly keen on the heat pumps and solar energy provision.