A MAJOR housing development near Oxenholme goes before planners next week.

Oakmere Homes Limited has built 30 houses on fields off Oxenholme Road and is building another 69.

Phases three and four, for 49 houses, come up before South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee on Wednesday (January 9).

Outline planning permission has been granted but the committee will examine some of the scheme’s finer details amid concerns from residents.

SLDC notified around 87 households of the latest plans and nearly 40 representations have been made.

Residents have complained some of the house designs have been “changed”.

There have been concerns that properties on Oxenholme Road, Blencathra Gardens, Hardknott Gardens, and the Strawberry Fields site itself could be “overlooked”.

Another commented: “All neighbours I have spoken with are very concerned about the drainage and potential flooding.”

Highway safety is one of the issues as the estate would only have one access road where a new roundabout has already been installed on the B6524.

Papers to go before the committee said that the next two stages involve mostly three and four bedroom houses.

Kendal Town Council has asked whether the “changed style” of the homes are has made them “unneighbourly”.

The site borders Oxenholme Road, The Oaks housing development, Westmorland General Hospital and green fields.

The final portion of houses occupies 44 per cent of the 6.9-hectare site.

Council planners said there would not be any “adverse impacts” and the proposed access to the site is “acceptable” – providing certain steps are taken.

“The proposed means of access and junction with Oxenholme Road and internal roads have sufficient capacity to serve all phases of the development,” said a report to go before the committee.

SLDC said Cumbria County Council, as the main flood authority, had not raised any objections to the proposed drainage scheme.

Planning officers are recommending that David Sykes, the council’s director of people and places, be given the power to grant planning permission, subject to eight conditions being met.

These include a safety audit of a new emergency vehicle access and conditions relating to drainage, site layout and noise mitigation.