Plans for over 200 houses near Grimsby rejected because it would mean a loss of habitat for birds
The application for land off Midfield Road Humberston was originally turned down by councillors but the developer appealed
Developers who want to build 225 homes in Humberston have been defeated by birds.
Cyden Homes planned the development for land east of Midfield Road. The site is allocated for around 198 homes in the North East Lincolnshire Council’s local plan.
However, the proposal was turned down by the council last year, principally because of concerns about biodiversity and the loss of habitat. Cyden appealed against that decision.
Now, a planning inspector has backed the council in an appeal decision. The matter centred chiefly around the curlew, a mottled brown and grey large wading bird.
The developer submitted the plans in 2019 and conducted several bird surveys over the next four years, with a focus on curlew numbers. In the winters of 2021-22 and 2022-23, a solitary curlew was seen. However, it was said that this followed a change in the way the land was managed. It was no longer grazed by horses and this led to overgrown vegetation, which was not desirable for curlews.
The council and Natural England argued that allowing the plans would lead to an “irreversible loss of land that is functionally linked” to the Humber Special Protection Area, as well as to the ‘Ramsar’ wetland and Humber Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Planning inspector Louise Crosby agreed that the site was still functionally linked to the nearby important wildlife areas, and so mitigations for the curlews were required and none had been proposed.
She accepted that neither the council nor Natural England could compel the landowner to create curlew foraging habitat or return to the previous grazing regime.
She said that approving the plans would “give a green light to other landowners and developers with allocated sites that are classed as FLL functionally linked land to allow their degradation in order to avoid the need to mitigate the loss”.
Cyden had proposed building two, three and four-bedroom homes, as well as nine bungalows, four of which would have been wheelchair accessible. The site would have had two access roads, from Midfield Road and Andrew Road. There were also plans for a public open space, with a pond and a toddler play area.
The developer had agreed measures with the council to mitigate disturbance to the nearby specially protected wildlife areas. This included open space, a pond for sustainable urban drainage, and an award of £79,000 for improvements to Cleethorpes Country Park
Cyden Homes have been contacted for comment.