Swineshead residents fear for privacy after plans to build 122 homes submitted

Plans to construct 122 homes at a village site have left neighbours fearing for their privacy.

D&R Homes has submitted an application to construct the buildings on land off Station Road in Swineshead.

“The application site is a roughly rectangular and flat piece of land currently in agricultural use, which forms a wide gap along the Station Road frontage close to the junction with Boston Road,” the planning, design and access statement prepared by agent Robert Doughty Consultancy said.

“The proposed development is for up to 122 dwellings which, on a site area of 5.78 hectare, equates to a density of 21 dwellings per hectare.”

However, Swineshead residents have raised concerns regarding impacts the development would have on homes on nearby Villa Lane.

A letter from Ian Baker highlighted the ‘potentially negative effect the new development will have on the value of our homes’.

“Having spoken to all residents on Villa Lane, it is completely evident that every one of us purchased our properties primarily due to the outlook we have with no overlooking properties impacting our privacy,” he wrote.

“Looking at the proposed layout, it is also completely evident that we will all now be very closely overlooked by two-storey houses that will remove all privacy from our properties, particularly as most will be semi-detached two-storey properties with two bedrooms at the rear which will look directly into each of our gardens.

Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal“At the very least, given the current make up of our road and reasons for purchase, we would have expected the dwellings placed against our borders to be of a single-storey make up so that we could at least retain some level of privacy and avoid the issues we will now face with people able to watch our every move at all times of day.”

A letter from fellow Villa Lane resident Simon Randall said he appreciates this application is ‘inevitable’ but argued there should be ‘more consideration’ for nearby homes.

“There are numerous single-storey developments proposed in the plan, but could more of them have been sited behind the existing houses on Villa Lane to reduce the visual impact?” he asked.

“There is also the risk of reducing the sunlight to the back gardens of the Villa Lane houses caused by building two-storey dwellings there.”

A requirement of the development would be for 20% of properties to be affordable housing.

The land, currently in agricultural use, is allocated for residential development in the Local Plan.

Boston Borough Council are yet to make a decision on the application.