Special report: Fears that Pinchbeck can't cope with amount of new housing

Worried residents fear their village will struggle to cope with a string of housing developments - and pleaded with planners to look at the ‘bigger picture’.

People living in Pinchbeck say their roads and school simply aren’t ready for an influx of new residents.

District councillor Sally Slade said: “I am deeply concerned about the amount of building going on in Pinchbeck.”

She added: “I feel Pinchbeck is being subsumed into Spalding and won’t feel like a separate place - it will be a suburb.”

Earlier this year, concerns were raised when plans were lodged for 96 homes at the Redmile Nursery site in Wardentree Lane.

That’s across the road from a recent 169-home development, not far from the 72-home project on the former Spalding Lifestyle and Garden site and around the corner from construction work in which 10 homes are being built off Spalding Road.

With the prospect of hundreds of homes around the new Spalding Western Relief Road and houses planned for the Keston Nurseries site in Mill Green Road, building work looks set to continue at a large scale.

In recent weeks, detailed plans were also lodged for 38 new homes off Milestone Lane.

The properties are due to go on a site that’s currently used as grazing paddocks for horses and is the size of two to three football pitches.

Rachael Barrowcliff, who lives near the proposed Milestone Lane development, says the roads around the site will not be able to cope.

Crossgate Lane is a single track road, while there is a blind bend on Milestone Lane and a tricky crossroads at Bacons Lane.

She said: “The lanes aren’t up to the volume of traffic. There are a lot of concerns about the development.”

There are particular fears over the narrow nature of Crossgate Lane, which runs to the south of the site.

Rachael explained: “It’s 2.3 metres wide at the narrowest part - it’s barely a car’s width so you can’t get a path in there.”

She pointed to the South East Lincolnshire Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment, which suggested the site was ‘undevelopable’ due to highways concerns. The plan was published after outline permission was granted.

She’s also concerned for the safety of her 14-year-old son and other children who need to walk along the lanes.

Coun Sally Slade has lodged a formal objection to the Milestone Lane plan, stating: “I am objecting on the basis that Pinchbeck cannot cope with more residential development unless increased investment is put into roads and schools.

“This development is on a rural road and will create an increase in the amount of traffic.”

Parish councillor Terry Moore’s bungalow will be encircled by the Milestone Lane development if it goes ahead as planned.

He shares residents’ concerns about the 38-home plan - and is also worried about the wider impact of a string of developments on Pinchbeck.

He pointed to the lack of a dentist in the village as one example of how it might struggle to cope with thousands more residents.

Coun Moore said: “If you are going to build houses then let’s build infrastructure.

“Let’s look at the hospital, doctors, schools - the whole picture - not just say that the Government has said we have got to build 3,000 houses and we are going to build them come what may.”

He added: “I don’t think they look at the bigger picture.

“There are places other than Pinchbeck that can take houses.

“I know they are building in other places but not to this extent.”

Pinchbeck resident George Scott leads the Spalding and Peterborough Transport Forum.

He said: “There are lots and lots of houses. Traffic is bad enough as it is now.

“We should be forward planning and consulting people about transport.”

Lincolnshire County Council insisted Pinchbeck’s school can cope. Matthew Clayton, admissions and education provision manager, said: “One of the council’s top priorities is ensuring all local children get a good education. Between 2014 and 2016, the number of intake places at Pinchbeck East CE Primary School was increased from 40 to 60 to ensure there was sufficient space to meet local demand.

"Despite the planned housing developments, we don’t anticipate a need to increase school capacity in this area in the near future. However, we will continue to monitor the situation.”

Expansion plans: Where the Pinchbeck homes are going

The Pinchbeck housebuilding projects include:

• Bellway Homes’ plan for 96 homes at the Redmile Nursery site off Wardentree Lane. Outline permission was granted in 2018, plans for ‘reserved matters’ are due for a decision by May 18 this year.

• Postland Developments’ plan for 38 homes off Milestone Lane. Outline permission was granted in 2016, with a decision on ‘reserved matters’ due by June 29 this year.
• Keston Fields Ltd secured outline permission for up to 100 homes at the Keston Nurseries site in Mill Green Road in 2018. Plans for the details of ‘external materials’ are awaiting a decision by June 1 this year.
• Melbourne Homes is building ten houses off Spalding Road, near the junction of Wardentree Lane, having received planning permission in 2019.
• A 72-home development is being built on the site of the former Spalding Lifestyle and Garden Centre site in Spalding Road. Permission was granted at the start of 2019.
• Larkfleet Homes was given permission for 169 homes off Wardentree Lane in 2016.