Object
Local Plan 2040 Draft Plan - Strategy options and draft policies consultation
Representation ID: 4555
Received: 01/09/2021
Respondent: Mrs Kathryn Smith
If a new settlement is required then Little Barford should be an option as it is close to the East West rail station. Dennybrook should be discounted because there is a risk of coalescence with St Neots, the local roads are unsuitable, the traffic modelling was inadequate, it would engulf existing hamlets and fundamentally change the rural nature of the parish, it would use high quality
agricultural land and it is too far from the proposed E-W rail station to be sustainable. Alternative option would be at Twinwoods as there is a significant proportion of brownfield land.
When looking at the spatial approach to locating new development, the proposed site at Dennybrook would be located within close proximity to St Neots, with a possible merging into Wyboston. Given the scale of the proposed development at Dennybrook, even at 2,500 dwellings, there would a potential coalescence to the existing settlement of St Neots. Spatially, this would be contrary to the Council’s adopted Local Plan which seeks to prevent coalescence of settlements. In addition, policy 37 of the Council’s adopted Local Plan makes clear that developments need to ‘Protect the landscape setting and contribute to maintaining the individual and distinct character,
and separate identities of settlements by preventing coalescence…
’The transport impacts are acutely felt for this proposed new settlement. It is clear that the proposed development at Dennybrook (site 977) would be a car reliant settlement
The landscape setting for the Parish of Staploe is one of a rural character, containing small hamlets, interspersed agricultural buildings, small holdings and arable agricultural land. The roads are narrow and winding, and contribute to the rural setting. This form of land extends from the A1 to the east to Church End (Colmworth) to the west, down to Colesden to the south, and
up to Little Staughton Airfield to the north. The landscape character is depicted within the Council’s Landscape Character Assessment (LCA), updated October 2020. The wider Parish of Staploe falls within the Thurleigh Clay Farmland character area (1D). Within the ‘evaluation’ section at page 55 of the LCA it notes that potential future change could include Small scale development in villages which
could lead to loss their distinctive character/ ‘Ends’; Road upgrades affecting rural road character; Suburbanisation of villages. This would suggest that even relatively small changes would affect the rural setting of the area. Moreover, the proposed landscape strategy for the area as identified within the LCA is to ‘enhance’ elements of the landscape. The introduction of 2,500 new dwellings would
significantly and permanently erode the rural character of the Parish, contrary to Paragraphs 20, 153, 174, and 175 of the NPPF and policy 37 of the adopted Local Plan.