Objections to 30 new homes on Limagrain site in Docking

A planning application was put forward last month for a residential development consisting of 30 dwellings on the former Limagrain UK site west of Station Road, Docking.

The plan proposes a mix of detached, semi-detached and linked units and an access road would be made from Station Road.

The proposal was put forward by chartered town planners and urban designers Lanpro Services Limited.

Limagrain UK is a local agricultural seeds operating company. The Docking site became vacant in February 2018.

The site is located outside but immediately adjacent to the Docking Conservation Area.

“The proposals involve the delivery of a new residential development providing new high quality homes to meet existing local housing needs. The development will have full regard to the quality and character of the locality, its existing neighbourhood and its setting,” the planning statement reads.

The area covering the proposed development. Picture: Lanpro Services Limited

A public consultation event in June garnered predominantly neutral or ambiguous and negative responses, largely regarding concerns with the access point onto Station Road, a lack of affordable homes, school capacity, traffic in the village and objections to the scale of development.

Docking Parish Council have also objected on the grounds that:

• The site is at the heart of the village and is joining onto a conservation area
• The access to the site is adjacent to the village shop and with how parking is outside the shop could cause additional problems
• The walnut tree conservation order that is on the site

Objections to the application have also cited concerns over how local amenities will cope, that the dwellings will be aimed at those wishing to buy a holiday home and that the access point would prove too dangerous.

Do you live in Docking? What do you think of the proposed development? Email me your thoughts at sophie@townandaround.net.