Fenland planners approve 36 homes for March site

A new housing development has been approved in a Fenland market town.

The development, made up of up to 36 new homes, will be built on the land west of 12 Knights End Road in March.

Fenland District Council’s (FDC) planning committee approved the plans at a meeting this week, noting that the area is tipped for development in a locally-agreed planning policy.

March’s Broad Concept Plan (BCP) includes the fields on the land in its provision for future housing – which Cllr Jan French (Conservatives, March South) said March Town Council was unaware of when it lodged the only objection made to the planning application.

This objection suggested that the proposals might constitute “overdevelopment” and that the homes may be too close to an existing junction and postbox.

Andrew Hodgson, an agent speaking on behalf of developers Cannon Kirk (UK) Ltd, said that the scale of the development is “appropriate” in response to the town council’s comments and that access to the site has already been approved, meaning their other consideration isn’t relevant to this application.

That access point, to the western side of the site, was approved as part of another adjacent development, made up of nine houses, planning documents say.

They also say that the new development would provide “high quality housing” and “associated green infrastructure” as well as 25 per cent affordable homes.

The particulars of the designs of the buildings will be laid out in a future planning application.