Hartwell affordable homes plan likely to be refused

Plans for a development of up to 34 affordable homes in a village are likely to be thrown out.

The project has been proposed for land in Hartwell, near the Northamptonshire-Buckinghamshire border.

A report to West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) said the scheme would see unjustified development in open countryside.

It also said there was not enough provision for infrastructure. The plans will be debated on Thursday.

The Grand Union Housing Group (GUHG) said the homes in Hartwell were part of a plan to build more than 2,000 houses in the coming years, to help "end the well-publicised national housing crisis".

The site would accommodate up to 34 homes of different sizes, which would be available for rent or shared ownership.

In its planning application, GUHG said the site was used for farmland, but became too small for agricultural use when the M1 motorway cut through it.

WNC received several letters of objection from neighbours, who believed the road leading to the new homes, Stoneway, would not be able to cope with the extra traffic.

They also mentioned concerns about new residents putting extra pressure on a busy school and doctors' surgery.

GUHG estimated the development would result in 40 extra vehicle movements in the morning and 32 in the evening, which were "unlikely to generate an adverse impact on the local highway network", it said.

WNC's planning officers said financial contributions towards health and education services would be required from GUHG if the development went ahead.

Councillors will meet on Thursday to make a decision on the application and have been advised by their own officers to turn it down.

Their report said the affordable homes would "result in a harmful encroachment into open countryside", adding the applicants had not shown that the development provided "adequate infrastructure".

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