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Sunday, 10 February 2013

Affordable housing in Whittlersford - decision and options


The parish council meeting at Whittlesford this coming Tuesday 12 Febr at 7.30 has to decide if it wants to ask the District Council to extend the framework of the village to the west of Orchard Terrace, roughly the area marked in red on the screenshot.
This would enable the County Council to sell its farmland to allow a development to be built of some 20 houses, five of which would be affordable.

To give some context, there are two other developments currently under active consideration in Whittlesford: the area in yellow at Newton Road, which would be 16, all of which would be affordable housing, and the area in purple which is the current site of Granta Processors, which the company wants to sell for 16 houses, of which four would be affordable. In the longer term, the County Council Highways depot at Station Road could be sold off for land, even though it is not a very attractive site, and possibly some land around Church Lane.   

Land to west of Orchard Terrace
Clearly there is real demand for affordable houses in the village. The question as always is the scale and timing. Much of the commercially priced housing in Whittlesford is attractive to people commuting to London, because of the improvements to the railway, and one of the reasons why house prices are high in the village. Not forgetting the village shop, amenities including two pubs and the excellent school.

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