Controversial plan for 161 new homes in Fremington to be examined

A planning appeal to decide a controversial proposal for 161 new homes in Fremington which has met with huge opposition in the community will go into a second week.

The inquiry was scheduled for four days last week at North Devon Council’s Brynsworthy Environment Centre but will resume on Tuesday next week to hear more evidence.

The plans by Vistry Homes Ltd for land north of St Andrews Road, which include demolishing a bungalow on the quiet cul-de-sac to make space for an access road, were rejected by the council’s planning committee last August, against officers’ recommendations.

Opponents included Fremington Parish Council and 265 people who wrote letters of objection. A petition of 1,411 names against the development was also presented to the planning authority.

The inquiry is testing the council’s five-year housing land supply position and matters around good design and impacts on neighbouring amenity. The land is outside the development boundary and is being looked at as an ‘exception site’ as 48 of the homes will be affordable, 75 per cent of which would be social rented.

Cllr Frank Biederman (Independent, Fremington) who spoke at the inquiry said the plan was 'not sustainable' and the proposed access 'ridiculous'.

“We have no infrastructure to cope with this development, no extra doctors or school places and you might as well forget dentists.”

The Care Commissioning Group believes Fremington Medical Practice is already over capacity with 7,308 patients. The new homes would increase the population by 364 residents.

“The sad thing is we need these homes but they are not going to be ‘affordable’ for local people and they are not in the right place,” Cllr Biederman added. “A lot of them end up as second homes – we currently have 3,000 homes in North Devon, these are driving up the house prices and forcing the locals out.”

He said surveys revealed that traffic movements would increase from 46 to 750 per day in St Andrews Road, which was a cul-de-sac of around 15 homes and the impact on properties, particularly those next to the access to the new site, would be significant in terms of noise and light pollution.

“A great big acoustic fence has been proposed to mitigate the noise but it will still be at an unacceptable level.”

Local people are also concerned about the narrowness of the access road and have suggested an alternative via the former army camp.

No objections, however, have been raised by Devon County Council highways department to the access arrangements and NDC’s environmental health officers say although there would be a noticeable change in noise for some properties in a relatively quiet area, it would not be enough to cause a ‘significant adverse effect.’

Officers want a community contribution from Vistry of £93,000 towards improvements to Fremington Medical Practice and £794,000 towards primary and secondary education, together with special educational needs and early years contributions. There will also be just over £35,000 for the Braunton Burrows special area of conservation.

Vistry Homes held two rounds of public consultations over its plans and says it is responding to the need for local homes.

Currently 202 households in Fremington are registered as being in need of affordable housing.

The developer says it wants to create well-designed homes, pedestrian friendly streets and areas of green space – the plan for St Andrews Road includes a football pitch – and build with materials that reduce the energy requirement in order to keep heating bills low.

But the high density of the development has raised concerns, as it would be closer to the countryside than the built-up areas of the village where higher density schemes are more in keeping.