Bridge pledge not an optional extra, meeting hears

An application to ditch plans for a new bridge connecting a housing estate to a town has been rejected.

Norwich Hub and Buckminster Estates applied to South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) to remove an obligation they were committed to when the Poplar Farm estate in Grantham was approved in 2011.

The bridge would allow residents access to shops, an NHS community diagnostic centre and a tennis club at Great Gonerby without going through the town centre.

At a meeting on Thursday, councillors voiced concerns, saying the bridge was a vital piece of infrastructure, which had been promised to residents. The developers have been approached for a comment.

In the original permission, once 750 houses were built on the estate, there was a requirement to build the Pennine Way bridge, connecting the development with Great Gonerby, over the East Coast Mainline.

However, Norwich Hub and Buckminster Estates later said the bridge was agreed before the development of the Grantham Southern Relief Road, and was no longer needed.

Officers had also previously recommended removing the obligation to encourage the remaining housing to be built and boost the council's five-year housing land supply.

However, speaking at the meeting, Councillor Tim Harrison said removing the obligation would undermine public trust in the planning system.

"For over a decade, residents were told that Pennine Way Bridge formed part of the long-term infrastructure plan for Poplar Farm.

"The bridge was not an optional extra. It was written into the development itself," he added.

In a statement, Councillor Ben Green said: "What is being presented as a technical change is, in reality, a fundamental shift in what was agreed.

"The development remains in full, the impacts remain in full, but the infrastructure that helped make it acceptable is being stripped away.

"People see this pattern very clearly now. They are told one thing at the point of approval, and then, once the principle is established, those commitments begin to fall away."

Councillor Penny Milnes, who chaired the meeting, added: "What we don't want is to remove it and have no potential going forward of any bridge being built."

To date, 677 homes have been built on the estate.

Councillor Helen Crawford said the developers could choose to stop at 749 homes, leaving them below the threshold for the requirement.

Councillors also agreed to reduce the final contributions from the developers under what is known as a Section 106 agreement to support local infrastructure and services - from £12.2m to £4m - although a requirement to build sports pitches remains.

The proportion of affordable housing has also been reduced to 8%. The authority benchmark is 20%, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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