New parish council to be created as part of garden village plans

A new parish council will be created in South Kesteven as part of plans for a new 3,700-home garden village.

Chairman of the authority’s development management committee Councillor Martin Wilkins confirmed the move as councillors discussed concerns over how to ensure a new community was created in the Spitalgate Heath Garden Village.

Councillor Judy Stevens, who later proposed a motion for a community centre and shop to be brought forward in the plans and started after 500 homes, asked if the development would come under Old Somerby Parish Council.

“No, this would create a new ward and so there would be a new parish council,” said councillor Wilkins.

He added that the shop and community centre would probably be created at the end of the project, which could take up to 30 years to complete.

How some of the housing could be laid out according to the plans.

Further details about the plans, including the proposed format of the two proposed schools, were also confirmed.

One will be a Free School which will include primary, secondary and sixth form education, while the second is planned to be only a primary school.

In response to concerns over the catchment area of the schools, council officers told the committee that there would be no restrictions on where pupils could come from unless the school was oversubscribed at which point it would be up to the school to decide priority.

Applicant Buckminster revealed it wanted to put a fruit tree in every garden.

The layout of the Spitalgate Heath development.

Speaking following the meeting, William Lee, director, said: “We want people to appreciate this is a garden and we take the Government’s branding of it at face value and therefore, it seemed to us that not just the allotments or orchards which are distant from houses were important but the actual gardens were.

“So the gesture of a fruit tree and a raised bed, or vegetable patch, seemed wholly in keeping and affordable in the context of such a major development.”

The 224 hectare village will include 110,000 square metres of employment space, creating up to 3,000 new jobs, a health centre, sports facilities and shops.

A new riverside park, outdoor sports and play areas, community orchard and allotments will be connected by footpaths, cycleways and landscaped corridors.

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