Developer wins fight to build 115 new homes on edge of Yaxley and Peterborough

The new homes are planned to be built at the Livery Stable Folly Farm, off London Road, with 40 per cent made available as affordable housing.

The developer, Abbey Properties Cambridgeshire Ltd, said its plans offered an “excellent opportunity” to meet housing needs in the area.

The development faced backlash from some people living in the village, with concerns raised about the increased traffic from the new homes potentially making the roads in the area less safe.

Huntingdonshire District Council initially refused to grant planning permission for the development, arguing at the time that it would “result in harm to the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside”.

However, when the developer lodged an appeal to try and overturn this decision, the district council said it would not fight against the plans.

The authority explained that it had been provided with more information to address a number of the original reasons for refusal.

The district council said it still believed the new homes would harm the character of Yaxley due to “urbanisation”, and that it would impact on the physical and visual separation between the village and the Great Haddon development in Peterborough.

However, the authority highlighted that changes to the national calculation that decides how many homes need to be built in the area meant Huntingdonshire no longer had a five year housing supply.

This brought into effect ’tilted balance’ which means that developments should be allowed unless the harms “significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits”.

The district council said the benefits of the new housing in light of this change had to be given “significant weight” and said it believed the development should be allowed.

The planning inspector who assessed the appeal has now issued their decision and agreed to grant permission for the development.

The inspector recognised the concerns raised in the area about the impact of the development, particularly on the roads, but said there was no evidence to back up these concerns.

The inspector’s report said: “A number of potential concerns regarding highway safety and congestion have been raised by interested parties, including by Yaxley Parish Council at the inquiry.

“Nonetheless, no substantiated evidence has been put to me to suggest that there would be any significant impacts in this regard that could not be reasonably mitigated.

“In contrast, the potential effects of the development in these respects appear to have been thoroughly assessed on behalf of the appellant, for instance via a transport assessment.

“The development and the proposed mitigation have also been scrutinised by Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council as the local highways authorities concerned.

“Subject to mitigation, neither of these bodies have any outstanding objections to the appeal scheme.

“Based on all that I have read, seen and heard during the appeal process, I have found no good reason to conclude that the appeal scheme would have any significant negative effects on highway safety or congestion that could not be mitigated.

“Consequently, I have found no conflict, in this regard, with the local plan or the framework.”

The inspector added that the development “would bring a range of benefits”, particularly highlighting the “significant amount of market and affordable housing in an accessible location”.

They said: “In the context of the area’s current issues with housing delivery, the benefits together carry, at the least, considerable weight in favour of the appeal development.”

As an outline application further and more detailed plans for the development will still need to be submitted and approved by the district council before work can start to build the new homes.