November 2024
Norwich Hub and Buckminster, as joint owners of the Poplar Farm development, are applying to South Kesteven District Council (SKDC) to remove a condition attached to the original 2011 planning consent requiring a road bridge over the railway line to be built linking Poplar Farm, via the planned extension to Penrhyn Way, with Gonerby Hill Foot.
Why?
When this planning condition was first formulated, the Grantham Southern Relief Road (GSRR) was not even ‘on the agenda’, but its existence now means there is no need for a bridge link. The GSSR radically alters traffic patterns in the area and has meant that the highways and traffic flows have had to be completely reassessed. The result of this assessment by international highways and engineering consultants Systra acting for the developers confirms this.
Not only that, the link is now contrary to planning policy:
The Transport Strategy for Grantham adopted by SKDC and Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) in December 2022 no longer includes the Pennine Way Link Road as part of its strategy which by contrast involves prioritising local traffic on Barrowby Rd.
But there are other reasons why the local community will be better off.
Without the bridge, there is justification for significant financial contributions to the GSSR and improvements to the A1/A52 junction on Barrowby Road, and for linking Poplar Farm to the recently commenced Rectory Farm development to allow permeability between communities.
At a time when the government has placed the need for more homes at the top of its agenda, the obsolete planning condition is holding up the completion of the next building phase of about 1000 houses at Poplar Farm. In turn, this is holding up the delivery of community benefits such as the Local Centre with its community hall, doctor’s surgery and anticipated nursery school, the sports area with pitches and pavilion, and integration of the public realm and finessed boundary treatment generally across the site.
The inevitability of increased non-local traffic ‘rat running’ through Poplar Farm will be avoided. The amenity, especially of residents fronting Penrhyn Road (and those living on the quiet Pennine Way cul-de-sac off Gonerby Rd) will be less impacted by passing traffic. Moreover, the extension of that road into the new development will not need to be so wide so likely reducing the temptation of traffic to speed.
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