Water meadows homes plan snubbed

MORE than 200 residents are celebrating winning their campaign to stop developers building houses on water meadows near their homes.

Plans to build 21 homes on land between Newton Road and Cardinalls Road in Stowmarket, spurred around 200 people into signing a petition and writing to the district council to urge them to refuse planning permission.

Residents feared the development could increase the risk of flooding, overload the sewage system, and damage wildlife habitat for bats, swifts, kingfishers, frogs and dragonflies and held a public meeting to debate their concerns.

Rosie Carter, from Cardinalls Road, organised a campaign against the development and said: "We are absolutely delighted.

"The council has listened to us and local knowledge has proved important. People are delighted and relieved and can relax now.

"People felt very strongly about this, it would have effected their homes. We feared flooding, all those new houses being built could have made things appalling. This is a weight off everyone's mind.''

Residents were also backed by Stowmarket Town Council, which argued the site was unsuitable for development, principally because of flooding and traffic problems.

Agents for the applicants, Lacy, Scott and Knight had offered to meet residents to hear their views and the site, which the council classed as agricultural/wasteland, had gained outline planning permission for homes during 1989, which was renewed in 1992.

But now Mid Suffolk District Council has refused planning permission after a sustained campaign from residents.

The district council also felt the development was contrary to Government guidelines, with the site likely to be a flood plain.

The authority also felt the site had inadequate roads locally and there could be a risk of increased accidents if the development went ahead.