Plans for 500 homes near Tollbar Academy branded 'madness' as residents and councillors fear they are helpless to oppose scheme

PLANS to build up to 500 homes and possibly a new pub, shops and a primary school opposite Tollbar Academy have been branded "absolutely mad".

Without a Local Plan in place, residents and ward councillors fear there will be no way to oppose an outline planning application for the site at the corner of Louth Road and Station Road.

However, at a meeting of North East Lincolnshire Council's Cabinet committee yesterday, councillors said they had "no intention" of bringing the completion of the plan forward.

Passing a recommendation to approve the 2014 Revised Local Development Scheme – which sets out the timetable for a new local plan to be drawn up – councillors said calls for this to be brought forward by Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers was "disingenuous". They added they wanted to ensure they "made a good job of it" and it was not rejected as North Lincolnshire Council's had been. Work on the revised plan will now start in May next year, with public consultation in June and July and adoption from November 2017.

However, residents fear this will be too late to effectively challenge this new plan, which includes between 400 and 500 properties with footpaths, cycle paths and children's playgrounds – with the possibility of shops, a pub and a primary school also being developed.

An outline planning application is expected to be submitted to North East Lincolnshire Council (NELC) by Barton Willmore planning and design consultants within the next four weeks.

It will take the number of homes being developed in the Humberston and New Waltham ward to more than 1,700.

Councillor John Fenty, who represents Humberston and New Waltham, said: "Completing the Local Plan in 2017 is simply not good enough. The council needs urgent policy so that it can successfully fend off this scheme and stop it being given the green light.

"I am calling on the council to reconsider its net new homes targets and reduce them further and create urgent policy that avoids yet another scheme being given planning permission at appeal.

"Our villages are going to become building sites for more than 15 years as it stands.

"The council must take notice and bring forward the Local Plan or create an urgent interim policy with much lower housing targets, which enable a robust defence to avoid schemes like this winning at appeal."

Barton Willmore hosted a consultation at St Matthew's Church, in Peaks Lane, yesterday afternoon, where planners showcased initial designs for the site, known as "Land At Toll Bar".

Lesley Howard, 62, who has lived in Dunbar Avenue for 31 years, said: "I think these plans are absolutely mad.

"The traffic at Tollbar roundabout is already terrible when the schools are coming out and all these extra homes would make it even more of a nightmare.

"I just can't understand where they think they are going to get all the people from to buy these homes."

Lynn Gibbs, who has lived in New Waltham since 1966, added: "I am speechless. Every morning and afternoon the traffic is grid-locked at the roundabout, along Station Road and through Holton-le-Clay and this would make it even worse.

"I don't think the developers have even been down there to see what it's like. It's absolute chaos already so I dread to think what it would be like with another 1,000 cars."

Alison Kirkham, who has lived at Tollbar House for 11 years, said: "The area cannot cater for the number of homes that are being planned. We simply don't have the infrastructure."

The development would cover 57 acres currently used for arable farming and would include three main vehicle access points with the possibility of a drop-off point for the school and improvements to the Tollbar roundabout.

Dan Mitchell, town planning consultant, said: "We are here to hear what local people might have to say about the plans, particularly the design, before we submit an outline planning application.

"We have been working closely with the local authority's highways team to look at means to improve capacity flows through the roundabout and to ensure safety for schoolchildren crossing the roads."

See tomorrow's Grimsby Telegraph for a full overview of the major planning applications that are currently in the pipeline in the area.

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