Developer submits plan for 300 new homes in Rasen

Chestnut Homes has applied to West Lindsey District Council for permission to build a huge development on land off Caistor Road.

The application comes after a consultation event with residents in the summer - which has led to plans being scaled back from 325 to 300 homes.

Residents have raised concerns over the size of the project, the volume of traffic emerging on to Caistor Road, flooding and the effect the new homes would have on the town’s infrastructure.

But Market Rasen mayor John Matthews says residents should ‘take a step back’ and look at the ‘caring’ builder’s previous ‘good’ developments in the town.

And Market Rasen Primary School headteacher Andrew Smith says he is not concerned about the proposed development.

He said: “We’re assured the local authority will work with us to take the new children.

“As long as we’ve got the support, we’d be happy to expand our school.

“As long as we plan, we don’t see it [the development] as a negative.”

The proposed site is not allocated for residential development in the West Lindsey Local Plan Review (2006), but is included in the emerging Central Lincolnshire Local Plan.

Chestnut Homes’ planning statement says the site provides a logical extension to the town, within walking and cycling distance of facilities and services.

The application states: “The current Local Plan cannot meet the objectively assessed needs of the area and therefore should be considered out of date in relation to housing supply policies.

“The emerging Plan carries significant weight given its advanced stage through the Local Plan process and the council’s five year proposed supply identifies the site as a deliverable one in the near future.”

And the application says the proposed development will ‘significantly enhance’ the economic benefits of this land to Market Rasen.

It states: “The site currently offers very little in terms of social benefits to the existing community.

“Chestnut Homes have undertaken a comprehensive consultation exercise with the existing residents.

“This offered the opportunity for the residents of Market Rasen to view and comment on the proposals at an early stage.

“Key areas of concern raised by local residents have been addressed within the application.”

A letter by West Lindsey District Council - sent to Chestnut Homes as part of pre-application correspondence - states how a development would have a ‘significant’ impact on Market Rasen.

The letter says: “This proposal is a substantial development which will impact on Market Rasen in a significant manner, particularly in the immediate environment of the development.”

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