Council leader vows to 'strongly oppose' 125-house plan for fields near Potton

Applicant Hallam Land Management Limited has submitted outline plans to the local authority for 125 houses on agricultural land north of Sandy Road.

There would be market and affordable homes, children’s play areas, amenity space, ecological habitats and other works on the 23-acre site.

CBC received a planning application for 186 properties to be built on the north side of Sandy Road, in February 2017, councillor Zerny explained in a social media post.

“There were more than 130 objections to the plans, which were eventually withdrawn in July 2018,” he posted on Facebook.

“Since then CBC has approved a Local Plan for development, which runs until 2035. This site isn’t on the list. Neither is it part of the town’s Neighbourhood Plan.

“This should make it unlikely such a development would be welcomed by the local authority, but one can never be certain with planning. None of this stops a developer putting in a speculative planning application.

“Although this latest scheme doesn’t cover all of the land between the town and Deepdale, if approved, there would be nothing stopping them returning to seek to fill the rest of the gap,” he warned.

“The proposed development would mean a huge western extension from Potton, totally out of keeping with the way the town is growing. The right approach for the developer should be to wait for the council to conduct a ‘call for sites’ in the next year, as part of the new CBC Local Plan.

“Potton has had significant development in recent years and I’ll strongly oppose a development of this size in our area.”

The site is in a sustainable location, explained Hallam Land Management in its planning statement. “In the context of a national housing crisis and government objective to boost the supply of homes, these proposals provide a deliverable opportunity for up to 125 properties, including 30 per cent or up to 38 affordable homes.

“There are critical affordability issues facing Central Bedfordshire’s communities, given a significant waiting list for affordable housing.

“In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request, CBC identified 2,503 households on the current housing register waiting list (as of March 2023), 361 households in temporary accommodation, 622 homelessness applications under the prevention duty and 596 under the relief duty.

“There are 209 households on the housing register which have identified Potton ward as their preferred choice of location.

“Delivery of this housing will provide important economic benefits, such as jobs at the construction stage, economic benefits for local retailers and services, and new homes bonus payments.

“Other benefits are extensive habitat creation to deliver significant net gains in biodiversity for wildlife, as well as new acid grassland and heath scrub to support the conservation aims of the Greensands Ridge nature improvement area.”

The planning consultation runs until September 6, although Independent Potton councillor Tracey Wye has asked for this to be extended because of the holiday season.

CBC’s development management committee will consider the plans in due course.