September 18, 2018 2.00 pm This story is over 66 months old

County council’s village housing estate rejected

The district council turned down the county council’s vision for an expanded village
An indicative layout of how the site would have looked.

Boston Borough Council has denied county leaders an opportunity to ‘capitalise on a village facing being overwhelmed by an extra 96 houses’.

Lincolnshire County Council wanted to build 96 houses on land to the north of Wigtoft Road, Sutterton, which would also include a public open space, attenuation pond and associated infrastructure.

A spokesman from Lincolnshire County Council said the authority was considering selling off some of its parcels of land to raise income and ‘in some cases encourage housing’.

They said the development would make a ‘significant contribution’ to the local area.

The entrance to the planned development site. Photo: Google Street View.

The application saw 17 letters of objection from residents, along with the parish council and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, whose concerns included building on a Greenfield site, lack of public transport, highways safety and a change of character out of proportion to the local area.

Nicholas Robinson, of Blows Lane, told councillors: “It would overwhelm an already fragile and unsupported village infrastructure”.

He added that the development could also ‘ lead to unplanned an ill-thought-out expansion of this and any other village’.

No other statutory consultees raised objections, though Boston Borough Council asked for 15 affordable houses, NHS England asked for £42,624 and the county council’s education board asked for £575,380.

Recommending approval, planning officers said the build would represent an ‘acceptable expansion’ to the built up area.

However, councillors disagreed and voted unanimously to reject the plans.

Councillor Brian Rush stating: “They [Sutterton] are being banged upon every five minutes by constructors.

“Sadly, this is Lincolnshire County Council, they’re supposed to be our guardians but here they are capitalising on a village that will become overwhelmed by these houses.”