South Kesteven District Council plans to built 11 homes on green space behind Northfields Industrial Estate in Market Deeping

Green space could be lost to affordable housing under a council’s plans.

South Kesteven District Council has submitted a planning application for 11 homes in Market Deeping between Wellington Way and Peacock Square in Northfields Industrial Estate.

Although the green space is currently used by the community and local scout and guides groups, it was ranked by the council’s open space study as ‘poor quality and low value’.

The 0.7 acre site also falls partly within the boundary of the Northfields Industrial Estate, which is an existing employment area, and has been identified as ‘important open land’ within the emerging neighbourhood plan.

Despite this, the council believes building the new properties will ‘allow the site to be used effectively and improve the established residential area’.

The site includes a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom houses, all of which would be affordable rented houses.

When pre-application advice was sought by the council in June 2021 planners considered the plans ‘acceptable in principle due to Market Deeping being a focus for growth and development and one of the four main towns within the district’.

A public consultation was also held last summer where plans for 14 properties were unveiled to residents.

The main concerns raised included the loss of open space, cutting the parking for the scout and guide hut and removing access to the industrial estate, which is where a number of the local shops are located.

Since then, plans have been amended to remove three of the proposed bungalows at the south of the site, reinstating the existing parking arrangements and creating an additional footpath to Northfields.

As the local planning authority, it will be up to South Kesteven District Council to grant itself permission for the development.

However, it cannot be decided by a committee or officer involved in the application and will be considered in the same way as any other plan.

South Kesteven District Council is also planning to build council homes on a garage site in Kesteven Road, Stamford, which will result in the loss of some green space.

To see more planning applications and other public notices for your area, visit publicnoticeportal.uk

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