Councillors refused to grant permission for a new housing development in Chatteris, sharing fears the road access would be “dangerous”.
Plans to build 152 new homes on the edge of Chatteris have been blocked due to concerns the access for cars would be “dangerous”. One councillor said they believed they would be “protecting people” by blocking the plans. The new homes were proposed to be built on land off The Elms, with a new access road to the development planned to be created off the A142.
Tim Northey, representative of the developer Abbeymill Homes, told councillors at a Fenland District Council planning meeting this week (January 21) that they wanted to build “high quality, sustainable homes”.
Mr Northey said the development would offer a “wide range of new housing opportunities”, with homes for first-time buyers, as well as for families. The new homes were proposed to mostly be detached and semi-detached houses, with three terraces and a two-storey block of eight flats also proposed.
Of the 152 homes the developer had said 16 of them would be made available as affordable housing. The development had been recommended for approval by planning officers at the district council.
However, councillors shared concerns about allowing the development to go ahead, with questions raised about road safety. Councillor Ian Benney said he welcomed the proposals for the new homes, but said he was “not happy” with the plans to create the road access off the A142, as he said he did not think it would be safe.
He highlighted that when the site was initially allocated for housing the proposal had been for the access to the site to be from Wenny Road. Cllr Benney said: “I fully support the development, I think it is great, it is on allocated land, but to bring this out onto the A142, which is a 60mph road, I know the report says it is safe, but I have been there and I really think you are wrong on the access.”
Councillor David Connor said he shared Cllr Benney’s concerns and said he felt the road access plans were “really dangerous”. He said: “There will be a human cost, make no mistake about that.”
Councillor Charlie Marks also raised road safety concerns and said he believed that by refusing the application he would be “protecting people”.
Mr Northey highlighted that the only option available to the developer to create a road access to the site would be to build it off the A142. He said they had “no guarantee” that separate plans to develop land to the south of the site would come forward, and explained that they needed to make sure their own scheme for 152 homes would be deliverable.
Mr Northey also set out how the developer had gone through a “thorough and comprehensive process with the highways authority” when designing the junction, and said it would be built to a standard that “should not raise safety concerns”.
A highways officer from Cambridgeshire County Council said while they would prefer new accesses not to come off an A road, they did not have a policy restricting this from happening.
They said: “The access has been designed to the standards, it has been through a road safety audit, there is no reason in the planning process for us to object to it.”
Despite these reassurances councillors agreed unanimously to refuse the plans.
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