Plans for nearly 300 new homes approved near town

An artist's impression of some of the new homes

Plans for nearly 300 new homes and a 60-bed care facility have been approved despite concerns they contained no affordable housing.

The site, east of Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire, will be developed by Prosperity Wealth and Development Limited.

The new homes will be a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom properties and were part of wider plans to build 1,450 homes in that area.

Fenland District Council planning committee members said they were "disappointed" by the lack of affordable homes but approved the plans as the development was policy compliant.

The developer asked for full planning permission to build 294 homes and for outline permission to build a care home for 14 residents, and a local centre including shops and services.

A representative of the developer told a planning meeting on Wednesday that "technical challenges" and upfront costs meant no affordable housing was planned at the development, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

They pointed out they needed to divert a high-pressure gas main and relocate other services, but said the development did offer "significant shop and healthcare opportunities".

Conservative councillor, Jan French, was among those who said they were "quite disappointed" to see the lack of affordable homes and financial contributions towards services in the area from the developer.

She said: "We are not going to have any affordable homes, nothing for education, nothing for national health, even Sports England are complaining about no contributions."

However, Ian Benney, also Conservative, said the proposed development was "policy compliant" and that the district council had "no grounds to turn this down".

He said there may be things about the development that councillors did not like, but said they had to work within planning policies.

The developer's representative said a review was proposed after 80% of the homes were occupied, and if more profit had been made than expected, money could then be given to services in the area.