A HOUSING boom is provoking fears from homeowners, councillors and campaigners alike that parts of the country could lose their “village feel.”

The Campaign to Protect Rural England has warned that planning reforms, designed to support a 340,000 new homes per year target, could cost the Conservatives at the ballot box.

An easing of the planning process was introduced under the tenure of Robert Jenrick as Secretary of State for Local Government, Housing and Communities.

One of the changes to the system introduced in 2020 was a reduction of the deadline for approval or rejection of a planning application from 13 weeks to 10.

But concerns are mounting in Cumbria about the pace of housing growth with some homes sitting empty.

Allerdale Borough Council’s planning panel refused a bid from Story Homes to build 67 homes on Thursday. The application was met with concern from the residents of Thursby about losing 'the village feel.'

The homes would be a second phase of development in the village from the housebuilder.

READ MORE: Penrith drug driver appears in court

One objector said: “This design doesn’t mitigate for road noise unless you keep your windows shut and don’t sit in your garden and 51 of 67 of those houses are effected.”

Danny Horsley, a member of the planning panel, said that a new development has recently been built in his village of Seaton, cheek-by-jowl with existing homes, causing conflict between residents during the summer months of lockdown.

But during the consultation for proposed changes to the planning process, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the reforms would cut out bureaucracy and 'newt counting delays.'

Meanwhile, proposals are being drawn up to build 10,000 new homes south of Carlisle over the next 30 years.

The 'sustainable' new community, St Cuthbert’s Garden Village is being delivered through joint working between Carlisle City Council and Cumbria County Council.

The Southern Link Road project is key to the delivery of the new community and will need to be approved as a major infrastructure project.

Independent councillor Paul Nedved was heavily involved in the city council’s work on the project before stepping down from the executive.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the project could “rebalance” the city as the northern side is “creaking” with the number of new homes.

“I was in favour of the garden village development but it’s got to be managed, proper development. It’s an opportunity to put a cooler on development to the north. We’ve got industrial and economic development which I am in favour of but it’s no good having development if the infrastructure isn’t there for it. We haven’t got the new primary school we’ve been promised.

“The scale of the development has probably been out of kilter with the rest of the city.”

The councillor for Stanwix and Houghton said: “There’s no doubt some of our villagers are being highly overdeveloped, we’ve seen that in Scotby and Cumwhinton.

"Hopefully the Garden Village will start to alleviate that but it’s a 30 year project.

"If we’re doing that we’ve got to be absolutely sure the infrastructure is in there.”

Cllr Nedved said that it is also important to ensure there are job opportunities for the new residents brought to Carlisle by the new homes.

MP for Carlisle John Stevenson spoke to representatives of Northern Developments this week to hear of their ongoing construction of homes at The Paddock.

The collection of “highly desirable” homes and apartments overlook Carlisle Racecourse.

Mr Stevenson said: “I very much look forward to visiting this development and seeing progress in the next few months.”

Carlisle Green Party have said that the housing boom is the biggest issue facing the area at the moment.

Developers are required to ensure that housing schemes lead to a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) due to measures such as the planting of new hedgerow and the creation of ponds.

Greens candidate Tom Adams said: “There is little evidence that this is happening. Uprooting naturally growing hedgerows and trees, then replacing them sparsely with saplings and hedges that take years to mature is no answer.”

The Greens said that wildlife surveys should be carried out by independent ecologists.

“The Environment Agency should then be given the resources to enforce this properly in the years that follow development.”

Chairman of Carlisle Green Party Gavin Hawkton said: “We need a sensibly-paced approach to social housing. The rapid pace we are seeing at the moment is starting to put pressure on services.”

Conservative councillor James Bainbridge raised the issue to Carlisle City Council’s leadership at a meeting of the full council in January.

He said that GP practices will soon be unable to meet demand brought on by a house building boom "not seen since the 1960s."

Cllr Elizabeth Mallinson, the Conservative leadership’s Communities, Health and Wellbeing Portfolio Holder said: “As the local planning authority, we have a key role to play in identifying and supporting the delivery of the physical infrastructure requirements as part of any future planned housing growth.”

An Infrastructure Delivery Plan drawn up when the latest Carlisle Local Plan was devised found that “there would be no major deficits in the physical provision of health care facilities across the district and that the growth plans for Carlisle were in line with the CCG’s own investment plans.”

READ MORE: MP welcomes £4million Carlisle fund