Gainsborough: Poor show at meeting over huge homes plans

Just 40 people turned up at a meeting to discuss plans for thousands of new houses across Gainsborough.
NEWS: The Gainsborough StandardNEWS: The Gainsborough Standard
NEWS: The Gainsborough Standard

The meeting at Trent Valley Academy saw a poor turn-out compared to a similar event in Scotter last month which attracted 350 people.

The event last Wednesday was a chance for interested local residents to find out about the Central Lincolnshire Joint Planning Committee’s plans to guide long term growth over the next 20 years.

The committee is holding a series of meetings to seek people’s views on the best sites for new housing, employment, roads, schools and other community assets.

Members of the public have been able to view village or neighbourhood-specific maps showing all of the areas put forward by landowners as potential development sites.

Planning officers were also on hand to address any questions and concerns people raised.

The outline plans for Gainsborough include the building of three ‘new neighbourhoods’ of 7,000 homes, more shops and businesses and 15 hectares of employment land.

Among the 40 people that attended the consultation at Trent Valley Academy, were residents from Gainsborough and surrounding villages like Knaith Park, Grayingham, Lea and Upton.

The aim of the gathering was to find out what level of growth – if any – should be allocated to each settlement; where this growth should take place; whether it should be housing and/or employment; and what issues there are, if any.

“This was a great opportunity for us to listen to people’s views and to answer questions,” said Simon Sharp, senior growth strategy projects officer at West Lindsey District Council, who spoke to a number of residents at the TVA consultation meeting.

“We would always encourage people to drop in to these events so they can have their input into what could happen in their local communities.”

“One of the issues that came up a lot was health provision and the difficulty in attracting doctors to practise in West Lindsey.”

“It’s really important we get as many views as possible and I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to attend.”

The Central Lincolnshire Joint Planning Committee (CLJPC) has developed its Core Strategy document to guide growth over the next 20 years. Up to 42,00 new homes could be built across Lincolnshire and 26,000 jobs created.

The CLJPC is made up of West Lindsey District Council, North Kesteven District Council, City of Lincoln Council and Lincolnshire Council.

A meeting in July in Scotter brought our 350 residents, many of who said that roads, drains and schools could not cope with large scale development.

The consultation runs until September. Find out more at www.central-lincs.org.uk