Donington needs infrastructure to match surge in new homes

Coun Jane King accepts that villages can die if they do not continue to provide places for residents who want to live there.

But Donington has a waiting list at Thomas Cowley High School – and doesn’t have a doctor’s or dentist’s surgery – and Coun King wants to see homes built in tandem with the necessary infrastructure to cater for new residents.

Cemex UK Properties Ltd is seeking outline planning consent to build “approximately 73 dwellings” on land off Malting Lane.

The decision on granting or refusing consent will be made by South Holland District Council.

Coun King said: “We are disrupted in the High Street at the moment because Anglian Water are digging up the road for the houses that have been built in Malting Lane.

“I realise people need places to live but we also need schools and both of ours are oversubscribed.

“We don’t have a doctor’s in the village and we don’t have a dentist’s.”

As well as places to live, Coun King says there needs to be affordable housing so those born and bred in the village don’t have to move out on cost grounds.

She also accepts that it’s “chicken and egg” because services won’t move into the village unless there are enough residents to take up those services.

Coun King also feels it would be wrong for families to move to Donington and their children to have to travel to schools in towns such as Spalding.

She said the new housing development might have as many as two children per house – and could involve them in a lot of travelling for education alone.