Should there be 200 new homes

Should there be 200 new homes built off New Road?

That is the question that Melbourn residents and businesses were pondering in October. We thought that this question had already been answered back in early 2013 when South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) was asking for comments on The Local Plan. On that occasion 760 people said No to a proposal to build 265 homes on two sites between New Road and Bramley Avenue.

However SCDC got its sums wrong and The Local Plan did not make provision for enough homes to be built in South Cambridgeshire – an additional 1500 will be needed. This means that sites, such as that off New Road, which have not been ruled as unsuitable for development can now be considered and the race is on for developers to submit planning applications to make up the shortfall in homes.

At the beginning of September, Endurance Estates indicated its intention to build up to 200 homes on the largest of the 2 sites that had been left out of The Local Plan. Once EE formally applies for planning permission, Melbourn Parish Council will be asked by SCDC whether or not it supports the application, and to explain why it takes the position it does. To reach a view, the Council needed to know what the village thought.

Why was another consultation needed?

Endurance Estates said in its leaflet that it would consider providing facilities for the village such as “a care home, small offices for local businesses, doctor’s surgery, dentist, crèche or community building”. Also the developers will be obliged to provide up to 40% affordable housing. Would Melbourn residents agree that an extra 200 homes is a price worth paying to obtain these benefits?

The outcome of the consultation is that people do not think so.

A total of 1648 people responded to the consultation – that is just over twice as many as in 2013. It took more than 2 days for the Councillors who ran the consultation to open all the envelopes and check people’s eligibility to vote. It then took the Assistant to the Parish Clerk and her helper over one month to enter all the details and comments onto a database.

In 2013, 84% objected to the proposed development, 8% supported it and 8% made comments without saying whether they did or did not support the proposal. In 2014, the figures were 86% objected, 10% supported, 2% did not have an opinion and 2% of forms were spoilt.

Unsurprisingly, in the light of the overwhelming objection, the Parish Council decided at its meeting on 27 October that it will fight the proposed development.

Many people who made comments said that they do not object to Melbourn growing and developing. It is the large number of houses to be built at once that concerns people and they are worried too that the village infrastructure will not be upgraded to support them.

Melbourn is already a large village and has seen its population increase 3-fold over the last 60 years, from 1425 in 1951 to 4689 in 1978 households by the time of the 2011 census. There is an average of 2.37 people per household. Thus an increase of 200 homes (together with the extra 64 homes off Victoria Way which were already in The Local Plan) means an estimated population increase of 13%.

Put in a couple of comments to illustrate the points people made?

At the moment the Parish Council and volunteers are collecting information so that the impact of 200 houses on things such as traffic congestion, road safety, school place and the sewage system can be assessed.

If you would like to see a full report of the consultation and the results, look on the Parish Council website or call in at the Parish Office for a hard copy. If you would like to receive updates about the fight against the development, e-mail the Parish Clerk (assistantclerk@melbournpc.co.uk) and ask to have you name put on the circulation list. Melbourn Futures Committee, Melbourn Parish Council