Plans to expand town by building 1,200 new homes given green light

Up to 1,200 homes can be built on the edge of March, as part of a wider plan to expand the town. An outline application for the new homes was approved by councillors at Fenland District Council this week (November 27). The new homes are due to be built on around 52 hectares of land west of The Avenue.

A new primary school, allotments, a local centre, as well as parks and open spaces are also proposed within the development. Work on the new homes is expected to start in 2026, and to be completed in 2038. The development is part of a larger strategic allocation to build around 2,000 to the west of March.

As an outline application more detailed plans will need to be submitted and approved by the district council before the homes can be built. Detailed plans were however submitted for the improved initial access off Knight’s End Road, and a roundabout access from the A141 proposed to be built by the time the 201st home was occupied.

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Anne Dew, a representative of the developer Persimmon Homes East Midlands, told councillors that the company was “very proud” of the plans for the new development. She said the housing would be “complemented by major infrastructure improvements” and upgrades to local highways.

Ms Dew explained that 240 of the 1,200 homes would be made available as affordable housing, with the tenure of the homes due to be decided when more detailed applications were submitted. She said these affordable homes would “help tackle” the number of people living in temporary accommodation and on the council’s housing list. Ms Dew said: “This is a positive development that will truly benefit the local area and we sincerely hope that with your support we can bring it to fruition.”

However, concerns about the development had been raised, with 49 objections being formally lodged against the plans. Colin Male, from March, told councillors that he had particular concerns about the initial main access for the development being created off Knight’s End Road.

He argued adding more traffic to the road would “compound” existing problems. Mr Male said the road had many “twists and turns” and a narrow footpath that he said he did not feel safe walking along. He added that the junction from Knight’s End Road to the A141 was “considered dangerous by many”, as he said the sight line around the bend was “very poor”, and that it was difficult to judge the speed of cars. Councillor Charlie Marks said he shared these concerns, as he said he knew “how bad at times” the road could be.

Councillor Jan French said she thought the proposed access was “totally unacceptable”. Councillor Sidney Imafidon asked the developer representatives why they could not build the roundabout access first, before the new houses were built. A developer representative said they had proposed the initial access of Knight’s End Road due to the phasing plan for the development. They added that they had proved to the highways authority that the road would be suitable.

Cllr Marks said he still had “major concerns” about the plans, raising fears that hundreds of cars could be added to existing traffic along Knight's End Road before the roundabout was built. He said: “Wouldn’t it be more considerate to put the roundabout in phase one as opposed to phase two, because the impact it will have on a lot of March is really unacceptable I feel.”

The developer representatives said the 201st occupation trigger point for the roundabout had been suggested by the highways authority. They said they would be willing to consider a lower amount of occupations before the roundabout was required. However, they added that they would like to be able to build and sell some houses first, as they said there was around £10million of infrastructure they already needed to provide before the developer had “even built a house”.

Ultimately the chair of the committee, Councillor David Connor, proposed to approve the application on the condition that the roundabout was built at the start. The committee unanimously agreed to approve the plans on this condition.

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