Kislingbury Parish Council will agree its objections at the Parish Council Meeting of 21 January 2025. The closing date to submit objections and comments is 30 January 2025.
Comments can be submitted via the WNC Planning Portal – https://www.westnorthants.gov.uk/planning-applications-and-enforcement/view-and-comment-planning-application. Although you have to give your name and address for your comment to be accepted, no personal details appear by your name.
The Parish Council recommends that you access the Full Application on the Planning Portal.
However, the Parish Council suggests that there are a number of key areas that you might wish to consider when commenting.
These are:
- The applicant wants everyone to see this proposal as a Phase 2 of Pembleton. This was not what was agreed in the Neighbourhood Development Plan. KIslingbury’s Contribution as a Secondary Service Village was set at 40 dwellings on Pembleton. This, for viability reasons, was increased to 44. If approved, the number of dwellings and residents will have been increased by 16.7% (92 dwellings and 221 residents) compared with the 2021 Census Figure.
- There is simply not the physical and social infrastructure to support such an expansion in the size of the village. The only local medical centre (at Bugbrooke) is over-stretched and the village primary school cannot be expanded.
- The drainage and sewage system have also been overwhelmed frequently in recent years with 5 flood events in 2024 alone. These have, on at least 2 occasions in 2024, caused storm water to run into foul drains. The sewage pumping station was itself flooded in November 2024 and had to be emptied by tanker.
- The projected increase in village size would substantially affect the rural character of the village without making any significant contribution to the supply of affordable housing locally. The proposal includes just 8 affordable dwellings (for a total of 15 residents). This proposal does almost nothing to address local housing needs. These needs are being met at scale locally with developments that are very close to Kislingbury at Norwood Farm, St Michael’s (on the Weedon Road) Harpole and Western Gate and Dragonfly Meadows.
- The focus on 2-bed and 3-bed houses enables the application to squeeze in 48 dwellings on the 1.8 hectares remaining of the site (compared with 44 dwellings on the 1.9 hectares of the Pembleton development). This would result in a high-density development. Please look at Lydia Prince’s comments on the Village Facebook Page.
- There are also concerns, given the proximity of the proposed development to the motorway, about pollution (especially as it affects children) and noise.
- Lydia Prince has also pointed out that WNC more than meets the requirements to have identified land that can be used for housing. She has also identified that the proposal falls far short of its requirement to increase bio-diversity by 10%.