Plans for new homes at Peterborough funeral directors withdrawn over highway concerns
Plans to construct three new homes on the site of a funeral directors in Peterborough have been withdrawn after concerns were raised by the local highway authority (LHA).
The applicant, building contractors and funeral directors John Lucas Peterborough Ltd, has occupied 31-33 Dogsthorpe Road since the formation of the company in the early 1900s.
While the building company is no longer active at the site, the funeral directors business still operates at number 31 Dogsthorpe Road, with the yard used for storage of funeral vehicles and a chapel of rest.
The company’s application to Peterborough City Council sought to gain outline planning consent for three new homes in the yard area with the creation of a new shared access to the side of number 33 Dogsthorpe Road, which would have remained as a private house.
The development would have consisted of two three-bedroom semi-detached homes of 117sqm and one three-bedroom detached home of 128.2sqm.
This would have included the demolition of 619sqm of commercial space in the yard to make way for the homes.
However, the plans were withdrawn by the applicant on Monday, July 7.
This followed an objection from the LHA which deemed that “further information” was required to assess the development’s highway impact.
Citing a number of potential site access issues, the authority wrote: “The LHA note that the proposed driveway would not have a minimum width of 3.7 metres (between kerbs) for the entire length and suitable turning facilities to ensure that emergency vehicles do not have to reverse more than 20 metres.
“The LHA require swept path analysis of an emergency vehicle accessing the site.”
The authority requested that a scaled plan was submitted which demonstrated the proposed vehicular visibility splays.
An objection was also received from a wildlife officer who wrote: “The applicant has claimed BNG [biodiversity net gain] exemption as de minimis, however, I disagree with this.
“The submitted plans and satellite imagery suggest that there are areas of grass, unsealed (gravel) surface and trees and/or hedgerow. These areas look to be greater than the de minimis threshold of 25 m sq of area habitat and five meters of hedgerow habitat.”
De minimis is a legal principle which allows matters of insufficient importance or small scale to be exempted from a rule or requirement.
The officer noted that a biodiversity net gain metric would need to be submitted by the applicant.