Residents feel 'cheated' and 'ignored' over plan for 42 homes off Stallingborough Road in Healing

DISGRUNTLED Healing residents have accused North East Lincolnshire Council of "railroading" a planning application to build 42 new homes in the village.

As reported, the proposed development off Stallingborough Road was approved by seven votes to three at a recent planning committee meeting.

But villagers Alan Nesbitt and Martin Young, who both objected to the plans, intend to make a formal complaint about the authority's handling of the application.

They are angry that the planning meeting took place just a day after the deadline for comments on the revised application – and on the first working day after the Diamond Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend.

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The pair, who both attended the planning meeting in April when the original 43-home application was discussed, were not at last Wednesday's meeting as they had not expected it to be held so soon after the deadline.

Mr Nesbitt, 69, of Stallingborough Road, said: "How can they conceivably have a meeting on June 6 when the deadline for responses was June 5? I know NELC says that it is not obliged to tell us when it is going to happen but you don't expect them to have the meeting the day after the bank holiday deadline.

"We feel very disappointed to say the least – cheated even."

The pair also questioned why planning officer Ian Trowsdale's report stated that no further comments to the revised plans had been received from residents, when the council's own website details 11 such responses.

In addition, Mr Young, 41, also of Stallingborough Road, claims he posted a comment a couple of days before the deadline which has not been uploaded onto the website.

Mr Nesbitt said: "We feel our points were ignored at the first meeting and the revised plans were rushed through so quickly that they didn't even register all the residents' comments."

Mr Young said: "We feel that the process has not been dealt with fairly. It's been railroaded."

The pair also expressed their disappointment that Healing Parish Council had not discussed the application at one of its regular monthly meetings, but at a specially arranged planning meeting on May 24, which they were both unaware of.

However, parish clerk Kathy Nunn said the extra meeting was arranged to ensure that the parish council met its 21-day deadline for submitting responses to planning applications.

She said: "The meeting was clearly advertised in the post office window more than five days before. In fact, we had around 12 or 13 residents at the meeting because there were a couple of other contentious planning applications on the agenda."

'Development will provide clear benefits and job opportunities'

SENIOR officers from North East Lincolnshire Council's development team have pledged to contact the disgruntled residents to speak to them about their concerns.

Jason Longhurst, head of development at North East Lincolnshire Council, said: ''I am sorry to hear that some local residents feel dissatisfied about a recent Planning Committee decision. As a result I have asked a senior member of my team to contact Mr Nesbitt and Mr Young."

He said that after the decision on the application was deferred for further negotiations in April, revised plans were submitted and NELC wrote to residents to ask for their comments.

He said: "The monthly cycle of Planning Committee meetings means that we sometimes do have meetings close to a bank holiday.

Regardless of this though, the committee was made fully aware of representations received, including those from both Mr Nesbitt and Mr Young, who both objected to the scheme."

Planning consultant Dieter Nelson, who prepared the planning application on behalf of Land Developers (Lincs) Ltd, said: "The detailed planning committee report prepared by NELC clearly dealt with all the material planning issues including sustainability, housing supply, density, layout and residential amenity and the conclusion was that the revised proposal fully accords with both national and local planning policies.

"The Section 106 legal agreement requires the developer to provide a significant education contribution, 20 per cent of the dwellings will be secured for affordable housing and a large area of open space will be dedicated to the parish council.

"The development will provide clear benefits to the area, including job opportunities for local trades people in these times of economic depression."