Plans for 185 homes in a village approved despite concerns

Plans for 185 homes in a village have been given the go-ahead despite concerns.

The new homes were put forward by WM Tubby Limited and signed off by members of East Suffolk’s planning committee yesterday afternoon.

This means the site north of Hall Lane, in Oulton, will see up to 185 new homes built alongside a pre-school.

The developer proposed a phased scheme, which included an initial delivery of 26 homes fronting Hall Lane, with the remaining 159 subject to a further application outlining the appearance, layout, landscaping, and scale for the rest of the site.

Public open space, infrastructure, and new pedestrian and vehicular access were also part of the application.

 Speaking during the meeting, Alan Presslee, the agent, said: “These hybrid phased application proposals have been long in preparation and consideration through extensive public consultation.

“Any minor harm arising is substantially outweighed by the benefits of this scheme.”

It was also revealed the development could start as early as next summer and take up to five years to be fully delivered.

There were local concerns about the scheme, however, with 41 letters submitted to the district council, as well as formal objections from Oulton Parish Council and neighbouring Lowestoft and Flixton (east) parish councils.

Their representations included fears of overdevelopment, the loss of greenfield land, noise, and highway safety.

Oulton Parish Council also objected to plans to use up a paddock field outside the residential allocation.

Addressing the issues with the use of the paddock, officers said it had been left out of the allocation due to the potential impacts on Manor House, a grade-II* listed building, but stressed the application would only cause ‘less than substantial harm’.

No objectors spoke during the meeting.

Cllr Paul Ashdown, who seconded a motion to approve the application, said: “They’ve listened, we’ve got what we wanted – building in that area has always been an issue, especially with local residents.

“We’ve had big developments and we still have them going on in the area so they all need to be compatible and well designed and I think this fits quite nicely.”

Cllr Andree Gee, representing Oulton Broad, said the community backlash was due to years of development which left the village ‘completely suburbanized’.

As part of the plans, the developer will have to pay just over £2.25 million in developer contributions which will be used for education, library, waste, and highways infrastructure.

The final decision to approve the plans was reached with seven votes in favour and two against.