Following a review of the service station planning application – and analysis of its survey results – Spaldwick Parish Council has recommended refusal of the current service station application by Applegreen. In its survey of Spaldwick households, there was an even split, with 47 households against the proposal and 47 households in favour.
In a letter to Huntingdonshire District Council, the Parish Council wrote:
“Due to the scale of the proposed development it will create a visually intrusive and harmful development and by its sheer size will generate significantly more traffic movements than currently exists. The applicant has already confirmed at the village consultation meetings that this last point is expected as it was part of the financial viability study for the proposed development.”
“The Parish Council further recommends that Huntingdonshire District Council should request the applicant to withdraw the current scheme and resubmit a planning application for a lesser scale development comprising retail, coffee and one food offer (not drive thru) and reconsider the need for outside seating and children’s play with a view to minimising noise. The application should retain the plan to close access to HGVs and use signage to redirect passing traffic back to the nearby westbound A14 slip road.”
“In addition an up to date Transport Statement reflecting the new proposal should be provided, an impact statement on existing surrounding drainage and ground conditions, an acoustic report to establish potential noise and mitigation measures to reduce impact on near neighbours, and finally an impact report on anticipated environmental pollution (light, odours, food waste, litter) and mitigation measures to reduce impact on near neighbours. Some of the above were promised to be provided in the current application but were not provided.”
The Environment Agency has also objected to the proposed development as submitted.
66 comments have so far been made on the Huntingdonshire District Council website, with 58 comments (88%) objecting to the proposals and 5 (8%) supporting them.
We will provide more information about the application in due course.