Plan reveals 39 new homes for Binbrook

East Lindsay District Council has published proposals for its long-awaited Local Plan which will cover all development - including housing - in the area for the next 15 years.

A total of 39 houses are allocated to Binbrook - 19 on agricultural land on the eastern edge of the village, on the north side of Louth Road, and 20 for land to the south of the village, on the west side of High Street.

Parish council chairman Ian Burgess said: “It was of the council’s opinion that the village was about as full as it should be.

“Shops are closing through none use and retirements, reducing the facilities in the village.

“The surgery has been taken over by Caistor - hopefully it will carry on but is near breaking point because of the large elderly population.

“Transport links are at a minimum to and from the village.

“Having said that an allocation of 39 houses with some hopefully allocated as social housing for the elderly of the village I would have no objection.”

In a report presented to ELDC’s planning policy committee on Thursday, officers outlined the allocation proposals for each specific community.

Committee members were told inland towns and villages would have to cope with more homes because of a ban on building developments in coastal areas due to fears of flooding. The 400-page report states: “The location of the village in the valley means that careful consideration has to be given to the potential impact on the setting of the village of any development which extends further up the surrounding hillsides.”

And it says any new development should take account of the village’s ‘distinctive rural character’.

Publication of the Local Plan comes along with a warning that ELDC needs to complete the process as quickly as possible.

ELDC is one of 62 councils in the country that has so far failed to deliver on what is a Whitehall requirement

Committee chairman Coun Richard Fry told the planning policy committee meeting: “There are time constraints - If we don’t do it, someone will come in and do it for us.”

The plan still has to be ratified by full council, then go out to public consultation before a government inspector has the final say.

In all, it says the district must incorporate over 7,000 new homes - including developments that already have planning permission.

The plan provides pointers to how the district needs to develop across a spectrum of activities from employment to house-building up to 2031.

The resident population of Binbrook in 2011 was 892, a fall of 41 on the 2001 figure.

And the Census recorded 429 households.