ARMSTRONG RIGG PLANNING
Site: Land at Blackberry Lane, Soham, Cambridgeshire
Client: Orbit Homes
On behalf of Orbit Homes, ARP secured planning permission at appeal for 157 dwellings on this urban extension site to the southeast of Soham in East Cambridgeshire.
The site is allocated in East Cambridgeshire’s Local Plan for 160 dwellings, but during the consideration of the application the Council announced that it would be seeking to reduce the level of development allocated in the now withdrawn emerging Local Plan to just 130 dwellings. In this context, the planning application was refused by members for reasons relating to a perceived overdevelopment of the site.
ARP were successful in demonstrating at appeal that the reasons for refusal could not be sustained. Key to this success was demonstrating that to achieve any significant level of development on the site (including the Council’s figure of 130 dwellings) would require a 5m high noise barrier along the A142, but that the design proposed for this barrier (comprising a landscaped bund and living willow fence) would not lead to significant landscape impacts.
Following the success at appeal, ARP has worked with Orbit Homes to ensure the timely discharge of planning conditions and S106 obligations, allowing a smooth transition from planning to the delivery of much needed new homes. There has also been a need to amend the proposals due to changes in circumstance (e.g. an unexpected need to accommodate an electrical substation and the availability of materials) and ARP has successfully acted for Orbit Homes in securing S73 variation of condition approvals and non-material amendments to the planning permission.
