Concerns continue to be raised by residents over a controversial Kirkby Stephen housing development, a meeting of the town council heard on Tuesday.
Mr Cairns, of Whitehouse Farm Developments Ltd, has submitted a planning application for a development of 64 new homes as part of phase two of a High Street housing scheme, for which outline consent has already been secured.
Kirkby Stephen town councillors discussed the resubmitted reserved matters application for appearance, landscaping, layout and scale at their meeting on Tuesday, having been granted an extension of time to debate it by Westmorland and Furness Council’s planning department.
Rebecca Halliwell, case officer for the planning application, was unable to attend the meeting, but had provided a PowerPoint presentation which was narrated by town council chairman Paul Richardson.
Concerns had been raised regarding the proximity of four dwellings in phase one of the development, which would have resulted in neighbours experiencing “adverse amenity impact”.
The amended plan received by Westmorland and Furness Council included the re-siting of the properties further away from the boundary, to ensure that an offset distance of 20m was achieved.
The developer’s planning agent had also confirmed that a two-metre high fence would also be erected to screen the development.
However, resident Rick Greenough told the meeting: “The original issue that we had was the issue of overlooking and overshadowing of some of the houses on phase one, including ours, by these five houses that were planned to be built on elevated land.
“What seems to have been done in the amended plans is to move these five houses back by about 10m and put up a fence. Personally, I think that the fence would actually shield us from the new houses and the new houses from us.”
But he said he had several problems in relation to the fence. “The first thing is, will it actually be built? Because the developers unfortunately have a history of not quite finishing off what they have started,” he claimed.
“We are still waiting for our pavements, two years after we moved in, and we are still waiting for the roads to be surfaced as well,” said Mr Greenough. He also had concerns over whose responsibility it would be to maintain the fence.
Concerns were also raised about the development protruding above the ridge line – specifically in relation to six dark green houses – in order to preserve visual amenity.
The meeting was told that an amendment had been made, effectively removing a storey from the houses’ height by building into the roof, making a 2m reduction in height.
However, a Nateby Road resident, who had lived in the town for over 30 years, said: “If they had reduced it by 3m – then it would be below the ridge line and we wouldn’t be here.” The meeting was told that the concerns of residents would now be raised with the planning authority.
