In hugely disappointing news, East Cambs district council’s Planning Committee today unanimously approved Endurance Estates’ application for planning permission for 53 dwellings at Garden Close in Sutton.

The committee had refused an identical application in January this year, and the outcome of Endurance’s appeal against that decision is still not known.

The number of dwellings on the site is more than double the number allocated in the district council’s draft Local Plan, which envisaged 25 retirement bungalows in this location. The smaller 25-bungalow proposal had some support from the local community, and was reflected in Sutton’s draft Neighbourhood Plan.

The proposed density of the development will be higher than in parts of the North Ely development in the city centre.  The site itself is also larger, leading to the need for complex drainage arrangements which would have to be managed in perpetuity.  Other properties in the area already experience problems with surface water, excess rainwater, and water run-off.

The permission given today is an ‘outline’ planning permission, which decides only the total number of houses and that access to the new development will be via the existing small road into Garden Close.  The detailed layout and other matters still remain to be decided by the Planning Committee at a future date.

17 of the 53 dwellings will be ‘affordable’, but the definition of this is 80 per cent of full price.

Image: Cllr Lorna Dupré with Mark Inskip at Garden Close

The A142 will be shut (completely) between the Mepal bridge and the Sutton roundabout overnight from Wednesday 14 to Tuesday 27 November, between 8:00PM and 6:00AM (it’ll be open during the day).

The reason for the closure is so that the county council can install four new traffic islands to improve road safety.  While they are doing this they will also be sealing and patching the road surface, and trimming back overgrowing trees.

This suggests that between 8:00PM and 6:00AM residents of Mepal will need to make their way in and out of the village via Witcham.

However, the situation regarding traffic diversion has become more complicated due to the fact that because of an oversight the Chatteris to Somersham road will also be closed for other works for the whole duration of the Mepal works.

This would not be the divert advertised by the county council for the Mepal works, as they advertise diverts at the same road grade as the road being closed (so because the A142 is an A road, they would advertise A-road diverts).  But Chatteris to Somersham would be the divert used by many locals, and closing off this route makes for an even longer divert.

So what are your options if you want to get from one end of the road closure to the other?

1. The advertised divert will be (believe it or not) via Chatteris, Warboys, down to Hartford near Huntingdon, and back along the A1123 (55 minutes to get from Mepal to Sutton by that route, according to Google Maps).
2. Some traffic may get as far as Warboys and then turn off via Pidley, Somersham and the Colne road to Earith, though that wouldn’t be an advertised diversion route as it’s not an A road route.
3. The closure of the Chatteris to Somersham road starts just north of the London Road junction with the drove road route through Sutton Gault.  I have raised this with officers, as that cuts off this much shorter, but rather rural, divert route which some with 4x4s and stout suspensions may wish to use.  I have been advised that there will be a gateman at this junction, who will allow domestic vehicles (but not HCVs) through the junction onto the drove road to Sutton Gault.

I’ve done my best to work with the council to find workarounds, including suggesting convoys on the A142 and all sorts, but no dice.  It’s going to be complete and utter mayhem for a fortnight, but council officers are understandably highly reluctant to defer either scheme on grounds of cost, and I’m reluctant to defer the Mepal works too, as the works are long awaited, and much needed.

Photo: Cllr Lorna Dupré with Mark Inskip at the Mepal junction

Update on Mepal Outdoor Centre here, with the prospect of it reopening in early summer 2019.

Image: Mepal Outdoor Centre geograph 2938261 by J Thomas

18/01256/OUT
Little Downham
Site North east of Downham Lodge Second Drove Little Downham
2 four bed dwellings with double garages.

18/01193/FUL
Mepal
Land rear of 4 Bridge Road Mepal CB6 2AR
The demolition of an existing detached garage and the erection of a three bedroom dwelling with detached double garage and store room.

18/01297/FUL
Sutton
Unit 5 and 6 Sterling Place Elean Business Park Sutton
Cover building for packaging compactors to aid recycling.

18/01294/FUL
Witchford
Midway Garage 76-78 Main Street Witchford
Retrospective application for erection of a vehicle garage.

Further information can be found on the district council’s planning pages. If you would like to respond formally to the council about any planning application, comments should be addressed to the district council and not to me.  Comments may be made

• online using the council’s public access webpage (the link above);
• by email to plservices@eastcambs.gov.uk;
• or by post to the Planning Department, The Grange, Nutholt Lane, Ely, CB7 4EE.

Littleport will move from North East Cambridgeshire to a new Thetford and Downham Market parliamentary constituency, if proposals from the Boundary Commission are given the green light by MPs.

Sutton and the Downham Villages will remain in North East Cambridgeshire constituency, together with Fenland.

Meanwhile South East Cambridgeshire is set to lose Fulbourn, Linton and Teversham to South Cambridgeshire constituency, and gain Earith from Huntingdonshire.

Littleport will remain in East Cambridgeshire for district and county council purposes.

This is the Boundary Commission’s final report.  It will now be laid before Parliament, and a draft Order will be made for Parliament to approve (or reject).  After the Order has been made, the next General Election will take place on the new boundaries.  Any parliamentary by-elections in the meantime will take place on existing boundaries.