Plans for new housing development in village near Boston receive multiple objections

The proposed layout of the housing development.

Developers seeking outline planning permission to build 46 new homes on agricultural land in Stickney are facing opposition from locals.

The proposed land, just shy of three hectares in size, is located to the rear of the William Lovell Academy and the new Stickney Meadows housing development off the A16. Access to the new site would be via Stickney Meadows, the application states.

The plans include 14 proposed homes which are classed as being in the ‘social, affordable or intermediate rent’ categories.

An artist's impression of the access road through the proposed housing development in Stickney.

The proposals state: “This planning application relates to the proposal of 46 new dwellings of various sizes to the rear of the school and Stickney Meadows. It will be accessed via Stickney Meadows as a continuation of the existing road. The units will be a mixture of one, two, three and four beds units – with 13 of the 46 units used for first time and affordable rented homes.”

The type of dwellings proposed will “enhance the character” of the locality, the application states.

However, more than 30 objections have already been submitted to the council over the plans – with concerns over noise pollution, privacy, drainage and how busy the local GP surgery already is.

Stickney Parish Council has also raised several concerns. These include lack of amenities in the village, Stickney having already had other large housing developments approved and built recently, the access road to the proposed site through the existing Stickney Meadows development not being a Highways road, but one currently maintained by residents, concerns over the local sewage system, and there only being one small shop in the village.

The parish council also states: “This land may need to be used in the future if the William Lovell Academy needed to extend due to the increase of family properties already having planning permission within the catchment area of Stickney, Sibsey and Stickford.”

In a submitted response, Anglian Water notes: “The development site is within 15 metres of a sewage pumping station. This asset requires access for maintenance and will have sewerage infrastructure leading to it. For practical reasons therefore it cannot be easily relocated. Anglian Water consider that dwellings located within 15 metres of the pumping station would place them at risk of nuisance in the form of noise, odour or the general disruption from maintenance work caused by the normal operation of the pumping station.”

The application says that although most of the proposed homes will be two-storey, there will also be two bungalows, stating that all will be “good-sized homes with garages or driveways to dissuade on street parking”.

It goes on: “Gardens and areas of landscape have been carefully incorporated to ensure a more rural feel to the development.”

Neil Dowlman Architecture Ltd is acting on behalf of the applicants, a Mr and Mrs P. Cash. We approached the company to respond to the local concerns, but they declined to comment.