Moulton Chapel residents thank South Holland District Council for rejecting Allison Homes Roman Road application

The notorious Allison Homes development in Roman Road, Moulton Chapel, with its raised levels is the focus of this week's letters page.

Thank you for listening

I would like to thank everyone who supported the Moulton Chapel residents in our fight to get the height of the Chapel Gate site reduced.

The vote from the planning committee was unanimous in rejecting the officers recommendation to accept the application.

Planners are often vilified for not doing what we want them to do but in this case they listened to our concerns and acted in our favour.

I realise that we still have a long way to go but it does give us hope that this awful mound that has been created will be brought back down to what was originally approved.

Our thanks also to the Lincolnshire Free Press and Spalding Guardian for their support in giving us somewhere public to raise our concerns.

Barrie Pountain

via email

They did the right thing

I’m writing in the matter of Allison Homes and the refusal by the councillors on the planning committee to agree to condition 6, of the planning permission for the Chapel Gate, Moulton Chapel development.

Firstly the councillors need to be congratulated in standing firm and demonstrably doing the right thing for the people of Moulton Chapel and the planning process generally. This is a battle won but alas, part of a war still set to continue.

As has been well reported, the site has been artificially set at a level totally at odds with the Fenscape and creating loss of amenity to those living close by. The elevation of the site, I suggest, also brings with it surface water run-off issues to the detriment of roads and properties on the periphery of the new site.

Listening to a recording of the planning meeting, my perception was that the planners were acting as apologists for a commercial developer. They were in my view attempting to put a gloss on something wholly incapable of such lustre. Points brought in to support the developers corner by a form of acquiescence included the fact that section 38, and section 104, agreements in respect of road adoption and drainage were legally in place and that those authorities were generally happy. There was also some optimistic note about rodding eyes on the “French Drain”.

Dealing with the adoptions first, those applications were made to the relevant authorities on what I suggest to be a false premise. Condition 6, of the planning permission was clear that levels on site were to be agreed before the commencement of any works. Clearly condition 6, remains unsatisfied.

French drains normally consist of a trench with varying grades of granular fill and a perforated pipe run towards the bottom. Sometimes geotextile is also introduced. Surface water tends to run along the bottom of the trench, the pipe generally maintains a void. In time fine media such as silt locks up the granular material and the drain ceases to function. My view is that no amount of rodding eyes will address the issue as the problem lies in the granular fill and not the pipe run itself.

I will fight tooth and nail with my fellow villagers in a quest to see Chapel Gate built out as something that blends with the community and does not interfere with neighbouring properties.

The advice to Allison is to take the financial hit now and remediate the site rather than be staring at a big black hole sometime in the future.

Peter Mandell

Moulton Chapel

Town can’t cope with 400 homes

Re: Plans for Yews Farm, Spalding Road, Pinchbeck

It’s a good job our18th century road infrastructure around Spalding will be able to cope with an extra 400 car journeys every day.

Pat Wensor

via Facebook