Nine new homes have been approved in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire. 

Fenland District Council (FDC) agreed to allow Hawthorne Properties build six three-storey homes and three two-storey homes at 14-16 Wenny Road in the town. 

The site, near several listed buildings, is part of the Chatteris conservation area.

It is also where a controversial 93-home development has been approved on grassland known as Wenny Meadow. 

The homes will be “good quality” and in keeping with their surroundings, an FDC report says, and make “more efficient use” of what is currently an overgrown and vacant brownfield site. 

Councillors were initially reluctant to approve the application; at a meeting of FDC’s planning committee in September they deferred their decision on it. 

This was in order to wait for further details about the potential resurfacing of Ellingham Gardens, from which there would be access to the site. 

But these were not forthcoming, with councillors being told that the applicant was not in a position to give these to them and would not normally be expected to. 

They also expressed disappointment that the development scheme doesn’t include any affordable houses or a contribution to local services, although these are not requirements for a development of this size. 

Councillors said that there were no legitimate planning reasons to turn the application down at a planning meeting this month and passed it with five votes to one (an abstention). 

Hawthorne Properties were not in attendance at the meeting to input into the debate. 

The application received 11 public objections with inadequate access being a frequent concern.

The region’s highways authority (Cambridgeshire County Council) initially objected to the development but removed this after changes to the development’s access design – but said they were unable to comment on Ellingham Gardens as it’s a private road. 

Developers must submit design plans for the development before building work can begin.