After almost three hours of scrutiny, Story Homes’ bid to build 67 homes in Thursby was refused by councillors.
Members of Allerdale council’s development panel were sympathetic to the pleas of several Thursby residents, who spoke against the application.
One objector, Richard Noons lives in the first phase of development and outlined potential issues with the new builds from personal experience in the already built homes.
He said: “I personally believe the living conditions for any prospective householder on this development would be unbearable.”
A common thread in the concerns of those who spoke was the proximity of the land on St Andrew’s Road to a wind turbine, an increase in traffic, and the noise from both.
Although objections were represented in the report, councillors were advised by officers to approve the application, subject to a legal agreement compelling Story Homes to offer affordable housing.
At the meeting, Mr Noons claimed: “The phase one commitments weren’t met, some of the clauses were broken.”
He said that a noise buffer planted during the first phase of development, to break-up sound pollution from the A595, had not been maintained.
He added: “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 affected” and said that the housebuilder’s statements on shadow flicker caused by the wind turbine were disingenuous.
“The model that they’ve used doesn’t take account of obstructions, there’s a number of trees that are built close to the site and although it was mentioned blinds could be used, if they’re venetian blinds, that will actually increase the amount of flicker and photosensitivity.
“Housebuilding should be non-discriminatory and this was never mentioned to us during the sales process.”
But David Hayward, representing Story Homes, said: “It’s an issue that came up at phase one. There are 19 homes which are affected in a way that comes in close to 30 minutes a day.
“The assessment is very clear, anything over 30 minutes per day would require mitigation. When you apply weather conditions, which this assessment has done, that very clearly shows those properties are under that threshold.”
Addressing complaints about noise pollution, he said: “We acknowledge there is going to be noise from the wind turbine and there is going to be noise from the A595, the noise assessment was scoped out with the council’s environmental health officer.”
He added that a noise survey carried out on working days was deemed to be entirely appropriate.
But members of the development panel were not satisfied with the mitigation and voted to refuse permission for more homes by seven votes to two with one abstention.
Refusal followed a motion to defer the application which was defeated by five votes to four and an un-seconded motion to approve it.
