Construction work can finally start on 226 new homes in King's Lynn after the development cleared its final planning hurdle.
The project - on land off Parkway, in Gaywood - has been in the pipeline since 2020 and is one of the town's largest housing schemes.
It can now go ahead after the government confirmed it did not plan to block it, in a blow to campaigners who had hoped to stop the work in its tracks.
West Norfolk Borough Council, which is behind the scheme, received permission for the development from its own planning committee earlier this month.
But a local resident, Christine Merry, who had been leading a campaign against the project, had already sent a letter to the prime minister and housing secretary Michael Gove, requesting that any permission given by the council be considered first by the government, to check it approved.
At the end of this month's planning meeting, an email was read out from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), asking that final sign-off for the scheme be delayed until it had considered whether to refer the scheme to Mr Gove.
If officials had decided to do so, Mr Gove would have had the power to potentially block it from going ahead.
But in a new email published this week, a DLUHC official said the department had decided not to 'call in' the decision.
Local Liberal Democrat county councillor Rob Colwell said: “I’m really upset about it, because the reality of the situation is that local people will now be thinking ‘our local borough council aren’t listening to our legitimate concerns, now the government under Michael Gove’s department aren’t listening to our concerns’, and they’re going to feel, as I feel, ignored.”
He added that the roads near the development were already a "pinch-point for traffic and congestion, and unfortunately the decision that’s been reiterated today is going to have a knock-on effect for the whole of King’s Lynn… It’s a sad day”.
Traffic was not the only issue raised at the planning meeting, with other concerns ranging from trees being cut down, pollution, flooding and the homes’ affordability.
Council officials insisted the scheme met all of the borough’s policies on those concerns - and would even “enhance the quality of life” for existing residents.
Several councillors spoke positively about the scheme, with Conservative Elizabeth Nockolds saying: “How can we talk about traffic when people need homes? We’ve got a huge waiting list of people who need homes.”
A borough council spokeswoman said a decision notice officially approving the development is now expected to be issued.
The history of the Parkway development
West Norfolk Borough Council had originally proposed a significantly larger development of 379 homes on the land, which at one time served as the playing fields for the College of West Anglia (CWA).
That scheme included 220 properties on the western area of the site and 159 on the eastern side, with a new bridge across the railway line serving the sand quarries at Leziate.
But a petition against that proposal garnered some 3,500 signatures. Many objected to the loss of trees and wildlife habitat, including broadcaster Stephen Fry, who is himself a CWA alum.
The council nevertheless granted permission for that version of the plan, before deciding not to go ahead with it, and scaling the project down to 226 homes.
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