Houses approved despite sewage concerns

Houses could be built on the edge of a town despite a water company saying its sewage system could not cope with more properties.

Huntingdonshire District Council has granted outline permission for up to 30 homes on the edge of Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire, although Anglian Water objected, citing its reasons as "insufficient infrastructure capacity and to prevent environmental harm".

However, planning officers told the council the water company's concerns were a "strategic issue" for it to resolve and permission had already been granted for work to improve the drainage on the site.

The BBC has asked Anglian Water for a comment.

The outline application submitted to the district council proposed to build 25 to 30 new homes on paddock land off Main Street in Hartford.

The developer said 40% of the homes would be made available as affordable housing.

As this is an outline application, more detailed plans will need to be submitted and approved before building can start, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

A development management committee meeting on Monday was told that permission had already been granted for work to improve the drainage on the site, which included raising the ground level to bring it into flood zone one, making it at a lower risk of flooding.

Councillors also heard that Anglian Water had objected to the development as it said the Huntingdon (Godmanchester) Water Recycling Centre did not have the capacity to take sewage from the proposed development.

Concerns about the development were also raised by Huntingdon Town Council, particularly around flooding and the impact on traffic.

Simon Tindall, a representative of the developer, said a safety audit had been conducted of the plans, which he said the highways authority was happy with.

He also said there was a maintenance scheme planned for the drainage improvement on the site, which he said would eventually be taken on by a management company, estimating this would cost people who moved into the homes about £300 a year.

Speaking at the meeting, independent councillor Ben Pitt said while he had some "nerves" about the plans, the council had been guided by the professional experts towards supporting the application.

He added that he hoped the reserved matters applications for the development would come back to the committee "in a state that is easier to approve".

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