Green light for 14 new homes in Newmarket

The outline plans for 14 new homes on the site of a garage workshop building were passed by East Lindsey District Council’s planning committee last Thursday (March 9). The committee agreed with the recommendation of planning case officer Lindsey Stuart.

The decision to approve went against the views of Louth Town Council, which had raised safety concerns over the generation of additional traffic in Newmarket when vehicles access and exit the proposed development site.

Brian Wood, speaking on behalf of the agent Archemi Architecture, said vehicles presently enter the garage forecourt and have to reverse out on to Newmarket, whereas they would leave the site in forward gear if the proposed development went ahead.

“I believe this will have significantly less impact on the traffic on Newmarket than that which pertains at present”, said Mr Wood.

He added that concerns over ‘known contaminants’ at the existing garage site, such as asbestos, would be dealt with in line with controlled asbestos regulations, and said the town council’s comments regarding the potential impact upon foul water and surface water drainage systems would be ‘allayed’ by the agreed provisions.

There was little opposition to the proposal from planning committee members, although Coun Terry Aldridge expressed surprise that the NHS and Lincolnshire County Council’s education department had not requested any financial contributions.

He said ‘there are 14 dwellings there, you could have 28 children - that’s another classroom’, and added that Newmarket Medical Practice is ‘overcrowded’.

However, it was explained the proposed development did not meet the ‘threshold’ for a contribution request under the formulas used by these bodies to determine where this would be appropriate.

Coun Aldridge also questioned why advisory comments received from Lincolnshire Police had not been supplied to councillors.

He was informed that these comments are often ‘fairly lengthy’ and often relate to matters that are ‘not directly planning related’.