Kingsthorpe Parish Council ask for schools to be built 'quickly' as Persimmon given go-ahead to build 295 homes on outskirts of Northampton
Plans for almost 300 homes in the next phase of a large housing estate on the edge of Northampton have been given the go-ahead at a committee meeting this week.
Persimmon Homes took their application for the next 295 homes at the Dallington Grange development, near Kings Heath, to West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) strategic planning committee on Tuesday March 17.
The wider estate already has hybrid planning permission for up to 3,000 homes, a secondary school, two primary schools, employment land, a local centre, and an extension of the North West Relief Road, granted in 2021.
The application for phase 2B of the residential site comes as the first phase of housing is currently being built out. To the south of the site are further parcels in phase two and the employment areas, primary school and secondary school, as set out in the masterplan. Detailed permission for these is yet to be received.
Kingsthorpe Parish Council confirmed to WNC that it supported the application, but asked that the schools planned for the community are built out ‘quickly’.
Six letters of objection were submitted by members of the public, raising concerns with the impact of traffic on Kings Heath and other nearby areas due to new residents accessing the estate and exacerbated parking issues.
According to the council’s planning report, the neighbourhood will consist of 20 two-bedroom homes, 109 three-bedroom homes, 133 four-bedroom homes and 13 five-bedroom homes.
A further two one-bed homes, eight two-bedroom, and 10 three-bed homes would be classed as affordable housing. This means roughly seven per cent of the houses on site would be available for either affordable rent or shared ownership.
WNC’s planning policy currently requires that 35 per cent of dwellings on a development of more than 15 houses should be affordable. When the original hybrid application was approved, the percentage of affordable houses was set at 10 per cent as a result of a viability assessment.
The proportion of affordable homes is to be made up elsewhere across the Dallington Grange area.
Cllr Bob Purser (Labour, Abington and Phippsville) said he was disappointed with the level of affordable housing offered within the parcel of homes, adding that there were lessons to be learnt in WNC’s next development plan.
The panel unanimously voted to approve the housing plans, in line with officers’ recommendations.
The development will generate around £2.7m in Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) charges, which would go towards paying for infrastructure such as schools, transport and community facilities.