Plans for 340 homes and primary school on farmland rejected

A planning application for 340 homes and a primary school on farmland outside Sawtry has been refused.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The proposal was for agricultural land north of the village, west of Glatton Road and north of Shawley Road.

Huntingdonshire District Council’s development management committee voted 10 to five to reject the outline application from developer Larkfleet Homes on Monday.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A majority of councillors objected, citing fears over the visual impact, the encroachment into the countryside and the lack of community amenities to support the development.

Plans for 340 new homes and a school on farmland in Sawtry were rejectedPlans for 340 new homes and a school on farmland in Sawtry were rejected
Plans for 340 new homes and a school on farmland in Sawtry were rejected

Council planning officers had recommended the development for approval, despite it contradicting policies in the local plan.

The officer recommendation had been balanced between the “significant harm” to the landscape and character of the countryside in the area, and benefits including the additional two-form primary school.

Sawtry Parish Council opposed the plan. Parish councillor John Potter said the village is already “somewhat at bursting point”. He said the development would require a new supermarket to be built as the existing Co-Op is already heavily used and lacks sufficient parking.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a statement read out on behalf of the applicant, it was stated that the proposal would produce an ecological net gain, economic benefits and would “not only secure new homes, but will also provide significant community benefit, by enabling a new school to be built”.

Of the 340 homes, 40 per cent would have been affordable.

In addition to new homes bonus payments, the development, if approved, could have seen nearly £4.5 million paid in community contributions for projects including the primary school, increased early years provision, upgrading a doctor’s surgery and other community improvement works.

Councillor for Sawtry, Richard Tuplin, said he thought it was “very straightforward” that the application should be rejected. “I can’t understand why it was recommended for approval when it is contrary to the plan and it was rejected when we were discussing the development plan in the first place,” he said.

Cllr Tuplin echoed points made by the parish council, and said the development would put pressure on the area near the single access point off Glatton Road.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Cllr Jon Neish spoke in favour of the development, arguing the funds for community work, the school and affordable homes “balances against the rest of it”.

He said he recognised the area has seen a number of developments recently, but said “we never get large enough sites that give us a big enough contribution to give us the thing that we are really after in this area – the school”.

Cllr Sarah Conboy said: “For me the balance of harm outweighs the benefits. I know on previous applications that have come forward we have been desperate to see school provision and health provision, but to do it in a large patch of open countryside with such an impact – and what we know will happen is as soon as you develop that patch we will be developing the rest of it, and then that school will not have capacity.

“So it’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation. It may have capacity at the moment to accept the new houses and current population, but almost certainly it will be overgrown very quickly. I can’t see there is enough benefit to this application to outweigh the harm.”

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service