More than 80 new houses to be built near 900-home Holbeach Meadows site
More than 80 new homes are set to be built in Holbeach, on top of 900 already planned for an area of the town.
Spalding-based developer Ashwood Homes has been given permission for a mix of 83 two, three and four-bedroom homes on about 7.5 acres of land off Fen Road.
The new development is close to the Manor Farm site, known as Holbeach Meadows, where up to 900 two to five-bedroom homes are being built after South Holland District Council granted planning consent in December 2016.
Ashley King, chairman of Ashwood Homes, said: "We are delighted to obtain planning permission for residential development in Fen Road, Holbeach.
"We have commenced construction on the main development, Holbeach Meadows, and feel that this adjoining parcel of land will complement the masterplan approach already in place.
"Holbeach is proving to be a popular location for new homes and our showhome complex in the town will be open to view in the new year."
The 83-home development was passed by 10 votes to four, with one abstention, by the district council’s planning committee during a meeting on Wednesday.
Several members raised concerns about the timing of the planning application which was received by the council just three days after a new policy for housing and business development across South Holland was formally adopted.
The new South East Lincolnshire Local Plan (SELLP), which sets out guidelines for new housing in the area and Boston, does not list the land off Fen Road as a potential development site in Holbeach.
But an extract from a report for Wednesday's meeting said: "The land is considered to be a windfall site and would provide additional market and affordable housing within this part of the district."
Planning committee chairman Coun Roger Gambba-Jones said: "Within a town's boundary, provided all the other issues stack up, any site is likely to be considered for development.
"The fact that this application has come forward so soon after the SELLP was adopted is purely coincidental and if it came forward in four of five years time, no one would have blinked.
"It's frustrating when you know that you've gone out to potential developers and asked the question: 'Do you want to put any plans in for this site?' but end up having to go looking for other sites.
"I understand the frustration and I sympathise with the communities who think that nothing is going to happen on a site, only for an application to come in."
Holbeach Meadows: construction starts on first 108 homes
