Objections mount to homes plan in Kendal (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Objections mount to homes plan in Kendal

4:00pm Wednesday 8th August 2012 in News

Objections are mounting to plans to build nearly 150 new homes on the outskirts of Kendal.

Opponents to the proposed development off Oxenholme Road say that it would take up valuable green space and destroy the ‘buffer’ which currently exists between the settlements of Kendal and Oxenholme.

Oakmere Homes has prepared outline plans for the new development, which would feature 148 houses, a mixture of two, three and four bedroomed detached and semi detached properties. More than 50 of these houses would be classed as ‘affordable’.

The Natland-based company is shortly to submit the plans to South Lakeland District Council, and if permission is granted, hope to start work on the site before the end of next year.

Commercial director Chris Middlebrook said: “We know demand is high for the type of homes we seek to deliver and hope to have the first houses ready for occupation by 2014.”

But nearby residents, including those living on the adjacent Oaks estate, are opposed to the development, arguing that the site should be kept ‘green’.

Caroline Hodgson, who has lived in or near to Kendal all her life, said: “I am a big fan of the countryside so want as much space to be kept as possible – soon there will be no green space left at all, which is a shame. Brownfield sites should be used first, and we already have lots of empty houses too.”

Dennis Reed, chair of TOG (Triangle Opposition Group), which opposes any development on the ‘green gap’ in which the houses would be built, had similar concerns.

“These houses, as well as plans for a business park in the space, would mix Oxenholme and Kendal — they would just be completely joined,” he said. “And the council is supposed to want to keep the integrity of settlements. These houses would mean that the green gap would become a green sliver.”

But a spokesperson from Oakmere Homes said: “Landscape and visual Impact specialists have helped design the outline scheme to protect and formalise the green gap between Kendal and Oxenholme.

“We have also consulted Natural England in relation to the ecology of the site and our plans are designed to increase the diversity of local wildlife.”