Villagers in Wittering, near Stamford, in race to create neighbourhood plan in time for Peterborough City Council’s Draft Local Plan

A group is working against the clock to get their voices heard over fears about future housing plans for their village.

Two large farmland sites around Wittering were offered to Peterborough City Council which is soon due to publish its draft local plan.

A Strategic Housing and Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA), published by the council in November 2023, includes a 558-hectare site for possible development of up to 3,000 houses at Southorpe Heath, on the other side of the A1 to Wittering.

An 388-hectare site off the Old Oundle Road, to the west of Wittering, which could house up to 5,000 properties, is also among dozens of sites across the district which were offered to the council for potential development.

A six-strong group of villagers now faces a race against time to complete a neighbourhood plan which would allow them to have a say when the draft plan goes to consultation.

“Without that, the council can just say ‘this is what’s happening’,” said Sue Smith, who is co-ordinating the Wittering Village Neighbourhood Planning Group.

“Unless you’ve made a neighbourhood plan to say what we will and won’t have in the village, they can just railroad over you.”

The draft local plan was postponed last September after the Labour Government announced its target to build 1.5 million homes nationally.

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It is due to be published for consultation in the spring and completed by the end of 2026, with an increased annual housing target of 1,006 units - 70 more per year than the previous target.

“It’s quite scary - it’s urbanisation by the back door,” said Sue.

“People living in villages like living in villages; they don’t really want to be put into a semi-town which is what Wittering will become if they put these houses there.”

Despite the tight timescale and some sceptical voices in the village, Sue is determined to try and wants to make people aware of what’s at stake.

“I feel quite passionate that unless we say something then it will just be a given and they’ll just do it anyway,” she said.

“It’s been years in the making and Wittering has only just woken up to the fact it’s happening, so we've literally just got the neighbourhood plan off the ground.

“The parish council has delegated it to a group of people, but with the best will in the world we’re all volunteers so it’s a bit of a learning curve.”

She added: “We have to get 75 per cent of voters in favour of it which is a big ask. It has to be community led.

“Not only do you have to produce the plan, you have to galvanise people into getting on side and signing up for it.

“We have no budget for this so it’s not easy, but you have to try.”

Since moving to Wittering 18 months ago, Sue has researched the area’s history, and believes the proposed development site at Souththorpe Heath has historical significance.

Henry Boswell, known as the King of the Gypsies, is said to have died while camped there in 1824 before he was buried at All Saints Church in Wittering.

Sue believes Henry had close links with 19th-Century nature poet John Clare, who lived in Helpston for most of his life.

She said: “Henry was John’s mentor and they used to go out poaching and that’s where a lot of inspiration came for his poetry - he hung out with him quite a bit apparently.”

The group has sympathy with Peterborough City Council and accepts the village will have to take some housing, but ideally in a more manageable scale.

Sue believes neither the village infrastructure, as it is, or the village’s access to the A1 could cope with 8,000 extra houses.

“They’re between a rock and a hard place because they have to come up with a certain number of houses,” she said.

“In a way a feel a bit sorry for them because they don’t have much control over what the Government has imposed on them.”