Campaign group calls on Peterborough City Council to protect countryside that inspired poet John Clare from 3,000 homes plan
New plan could see 3,000 homes built on countryside site
A campaign group dedicated to protecting the countryside that inspired the famous Helpston poet John Clare is urging Peterborough City Council to drop proposals that could see 3,000 homes built across the site.
The partners of the John Clare Countryside Trust have appealed to Peterborough City Council to remove a proposed housing allocation north of Ailsworth and the A47 from its draft Local Plan.
The 20-year Local Plan, which has still to be approved by councillors, sets out areas of acceptable development through to 2044.
The trust says allowing 3,000 homes to be built on the land, which is owned by Homes England and borders Castor Hanglands National Nature Reserve, poses unacceptable risks.
In a letter to the council, the trusts states that these risks are irreversible ecological damage to ancient woodland, limestone grasslands and priority species such as the Nightingale as well as irreversible harm to a site of national cultural heritage through its place in the work of the eighteenth century poet John Clare, who is renowned as Britain’s greatest poet of the natural world.
It also states that allowing such a development would be incompatible with climate resilience goals, green infrastructure aims, and the council’s own vision for a healthier, greener Peterborough.
Now the partners have also called on the council to create a dedicated policy to support the aims of the trust.
Richard Astle, the trust’s chair, said: “As currently proposed, this development would effectively sever the trust’s landscape recovery area, reducing its potential to deliver on biodiversity, climate adaptation, and heritage-based tourism.
"It would put at risk a major landscape scale recovery programme that promises millions of pounds of investment in the area.
“It could also render the Local Plan unsound due to policy inconsistencies and strong planning objections – a huge risk to take.”
Supporters of the trust include the RSPB, the Wildlife Trusts, Langdyke Countryside Trust, Nene Park Trust, PECT, Sacrewell Farm, Milton and Burghley Estates plus some councillors and parish councils.
The John Clare Countryside covers land west of Peterborough stretching from the river Nene in the south to the river Welland in the north.
The council says public consultation on the proposed Local Plan ended on May 29 and submissions will be considered in the near future..