Plans for 66 homes in Bury St Edmunds have been submitted which will complete a site started more than a decade ago.
Promount Homes lodged the application with West Suffolk Council at the start of the month which bids to construct 66 homes for the Abbots Gate development off Laundry Lane.
It marks the final phase for a larger development of around 165 homes in the area which began in August 2007, with 110 homes having been completed a decade ago.
In its application, developers said the 66-home application – an increase of nine homes on the planning consent approved in 2007 – will effectively finish the development there.
A spokesman from Strutt & Parker, agents for the development on behalf of Promount, said: “This is a sustainable site well located to provide homes close to Bury St Edmunds town centre and on which the principle of development has already been established by a previous planning permission.
“Promount Homes are now seeking to bring forward this second phase of the Abbots Gate development. Since completion of phase one of the development around a decade ago, the application site has sat as unused land.
“The new owner and applicant is ready to complete the housing development, but is seeking some alterations to ensure the scheme is delivered in a way that maintains a high quality design. The re-formed elements, designed by JAP architects, are all considered to be enhancements that will create a range of good quality housing, a distinctive sense of place and a high quality living environment.”
The plans are currently in the consultation phase and likely to return for a decision sometime from late summer onwards.
Two comments from the public have been received so far, one of which raises concerns about whether the access to the site is sufficient given the expected volume of traffic.
Another public comment from a neighbour said they liked the plans but had fears about the height of one of the blocks which would be near to existing homes, as well as a request for the nearby wildlife to be considered.
The developers said that comprehensive work was carried out at the start of the year to address some of the shortcomings of the previous planning permission.
In the application the developers added: “The works halted previously for various reasons, undoubtedly included in which were the excessive costs associated with the contamination clean-up and the disproportionately expensive, subterranean car park [originally planned beneath the flats].”
The developers confirmed said that car park was no longer planned because it was an “impractical and unsustainable impediment” to building homes, and improved parking with more spaces had been drawn up.
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