January 22, 2019 4.17 pm This story is over 62 months old

Woodhall Spa housing approved despite objections

The estate will be built behind the Railway Pub
The development will be built behind the Railway Pub in Woodhall Spa.

A 14-home development in Woodhall Spa was approved by councillors despite being told the village had “already taken its fair share.”

More than 20 letters of objection were received to the proposals, which will see the homes built to the rear of the Railway Hotel, in Witham Road.

A previous scheme for 16 homes had been considered inappropriate for the “character of the village”.

Speaker John Fowler, said he had been a “temporary resident for 49 years”.

He said: “The number of objections to this development is very significant, I’ve got a lot of sympathy with the planning officers because of the pressure from Central Government, but that doesn’t make this sort of development correct or right and Woodhall has done far more than its fair share of coping with development up until now.”

A site layout of the development submitted to ELDC.

He said the River Witham was a “valuable treasure” which he felt would be detracted from due tot he development.

Another objector said there were more than 600 new homes planned for Woodhall Spa over the next five years.

Concerns also related to the sites impact on nearby cycle ways, parking pressure, the protection of habitat allocated for Great Crested Newts and pressure to existing facilities.

Woodhall Spa Parish Council called the area “overdeveloped” and said the access was a “safety issue”.

On behalf of the applicant Ian Crouch said a number of mitigation measures with regard to noise, drainage and contamination concerns were accepted and implemented.

He added that concerns over newts had been addressed through the inclusion of a pond, which would be used to try to attract the species back to the site after their original habitat dried up last summer.

Councillors were also told the applicants would require a licence from Natural England before works commenced.

Councillors approved the plans last week however, with Councillor Helen Matthews saying the move was the “betterment of the site” and that she was pleased to see the applicant was “helping the newts.”

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