Chatteris: Homes plan for fields near Wenny meadow

A planning application, submitted by Abbeymill Homes, proposes 152 houses on the land south of The Elms just over half a mile away from where 93 new houses were recently approved on the former park known as Wenny meadow. 

The developments reflect Fenland District Council (FDC) plans to increase housing provision in the area. 

The council’s current Local Plan says that around 300 houses should be built in east Chatteris, making it a “mix of open space and a high quality, relatively low density, residential area”.

Abbeymill Homes’s proposal is made up of two, three, four and five bedroom houses with garages and gardens, of which 16 would be allocated as affordable housing. 

New footpaths would be created throughout the development, they add, as well as a new access point off the A142. 

Chatteris Street Scene submitted by Abbeymill Homes (Image: Fenland District Council)

The land is currently open fields used for grazing, but the new homes would boost numbers “in an area where housing delivery rates have been low in recent decades,” developers say. 

Chatteris is the smallest of Fenland’s four market towns but it doesn’t have the smallest housing target.

FDC hopes to support the building of 1,600 new houses in Chatteris by 2031, more than Whittlesey (1,000) although less than Wisbech and March. 

Also approved earlier this year in east Chatteris – this one east of The Elms – was an application for 80 new houses, brought by Fenland Futures Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of FDC. 

The only other home approved in Chatteris this year so far is on the land south of The Grange, London Road. 

The newest application is in its early stages and is likely to be debated and voted on by FDC’s planning committee at a later date.