Homes on a proposed Penrith housing estate look like they are crammed together like a “battery chicken farm”, a meeting was told.
Penrith Town Council is objecting to an application by Story Homes to build 194 homes with associated infrastructure including landscaping, open space, access, highways and drainage on land between Inglewood Road and Centurion Rise.
A meeting of the town council’s planning committee was told that the area was allocated for housing in the Eden local plan for 250 houses in total, but 98 houses had already been built on the adjoining Salkeld Road site — so the proposed 194 homes would take the total number to 292, which was above the number stipulated for housing growth.
Town councillor Hillary Snell said: “I think 194 (homes) is far too much — they are very close together.” Valerie Bowen, who also sits on the town council, said: “Everything is crammed together — it is a really intensive, mean, unimaginative development.” While town councillor Dan Jayson described the proposed site as being like a “battery chicken farm”.
The application would provide 170 three and four bedroom homes to be sold on the open market and 24 two and three bed properties classed as social affordable or intermediate rent, including four affordable bungalows.
But concern was raised as the proportion of affordable housing only equated to 14 per cent — when the figure stipulated in the local plan for this size of development was an aspiration for an affordable housing allocation of 30 per cent.
Deputy town clerk Ros Richardson said: “We know that the pressure in Penrith at the moment is very much for social affordable or intermediate rent properties.”
There were 6,655 people on the waiting list in Cumbria for affordable housing, 1,030 in Eden, the meeting was told.
“That number is not going down, it is going up,” said town councillor Dave Knaggs who added that young people were not going to be able to live in the area without there being more affordable housing provision.
Concerns about social infrastructure were also raised, particularly educational provision, as well as capacity issues with doctors and dentists within the town.
In addition, as no children’s playing area was being proposed as part of the development because it was adjacent to the town council-maintained Fairhill playground, councillors felt the developer should be asked to put some money towards enhancing that facility.
Town councillors also expressed a wish for proper care to be taken over the Roman Road which runs through the site.
From Story Homes’ perspective, the planning application represents the “next phase” of development, linking in and following on from their 98-home Fairways development off Salkeld Road, now established as Centurion Rise.
A report accompanying the application said: “The proposed development will deliver a range of high quality, high specification homes for the local community in a sustainable location. The scheme, as submitted, is considered to respond sensitively to its surroundings.”
