Residents in quiet village near Northampton voice 'deep concerns' with plans to build affordable housing scheme

Villagers have voiced ‘deep concerns’ over ‘devastating’ plans to build affordable homes in a quiet village near Northampton.

Proposals to build 58 homes on land in Beech Lane, Kislingbury, 66 per cent of which earmarked for affordable housing, have been heavily rejected by residents and the parish council.

The housing developer, Clayson Country Homes Ltd, says in planning papers that the under used 2.8 hectare site, equivalent to four football pitches, will provide ‘much needed affordable homes’.

A Clayson Homes spokesman said: “The form of the development will provide much needed affordable homes, specifically designed for those seeking to take their first step onto the home ownership ladder and would assist in delivering much needed affordable homes for the district, where a history of under-delivery has added to an existing and continuing demand for such dwellings.”

Of the 58 properties proposed, 38 are to be first homes, nine would be open market houses, and 11 would comprise affordable homes under alternative tenures, such as social rent, affordable rent and shared ownership, according to plans.

The properties will comprise a mix of maisonettes, short terraces, semi-detached and detached dwellings and will incorporate a mix of one bedrooms, two bedrooms, three bedrooms and four bedrooms.

Each property would be provided with allocated car parking spaces, driveways and/or garage spaces, according to plans.

Each of the houses would benefit from a private rear garden which would also provide space for cycle storage, say planning papers.

Objections

Kislingbury Parish Council (KPC) writes on its website that it is ‘strongly objecting’ to the plans and that its stance is ‘supported by the village as a whole’ with more than 90 objections in total.

The council goes on to say 56 parishioners expressed their ‘deep concerns’ at a village meeting on Friday, July 7.

"The parish council asks the WNC planning committee to support the parish council and Kislingbury residents in rejecting this application,” said a KPC spokesman.

One Kislingbury resident said: “This development would be...devastating to the local area.

“This will compromise the village feel to Kislingbury and be wholly detrimental to its existing residents.

“The road network supporting the villages is already unable to cope with the volume of traffic and adding 50 plus further households to this will be catastrophic.

“This site is wholly unsuitable for development.”

Click here to view the plans in their entirety.