Fenland District Council approves plans for 80-home development submitted by its own company

Fenland District Council (FDC) has approved a planning application for an 80-home development in Chatteris, submitted by its new company.

Fenland Future Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the council, was established in 2020 and will help deliver the project to the land east of the Elms, in the Cambridgeshire market town.

But several public objections questioned whether the council should effectively determine the outcome of its own planning application.

Mrs Jennifer Emery had written that the land being owned by FDC "represents a conflict of interest”, while Mr Peter Humphrey wrote that “in the interests of transparency, something does not seem right here”.

Cllr Will Sutton (Independent) also took issue with the arrangement at the FDC planning meeting where the development was discussed, saying he “doesn’t sit here overly comfortable having to make a decision about something that’s in house”.

But Cllr Jan French (Conservatives) said that the council has “done it many, many times before” albeit "not on this scale" and that it has been done "properly".

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Councillors did question the power they have to refuse the application, but because of the lack of "material reasons" that would hold up at appeal rather than because it had been brought by an FDC-owned company.

Like the 58-home development near Hemmerley Drive in Whittlesey approved at the same meeting, the application was for outline planning permission - meaning the specifics of its design will be drawn up at a later stage.

Because of this, there were few details on which the application could be refused, in some councillors' views.

'People's hearts don't want it to go ahead'

Cllr Maureen Davis (Conservatives) said that, looking around at committee members and members of the public, “you can tell that people’s hearts don’t want it to go ahead” but that she “cannot see any real material reason for turning it down”.

Cllr Sutton similarly commented that “this is going to go through whatever I say”.

But while there were no objections from consultees which could form the basis of a rejection, several issues with the application were raised at the meeting.

Access to the development was among them; this would be “from the end of a spur of ‘The Elms’, with emergency access located between 63 and 65 Green Park”, council documents say.

Objectors argue that roads in this area are narrow and often lined with cars, making it unsuitable, and that the proposals run contrary to local planning policy.

How surface water would be treated was another, but developers say that the specifics of drainage solutions will be drawn up when a more detailed planning application is submitted.

Speaking on behalf of Fenland Futures Ltd, Adam Broadway also said that developers will contribute money to local infrastructure projects (section 106 funding) and that plans include 20 per cent affordable housing.

The application was approved with only one vote against it.