RESIDENTS packed a council chamber to express their anger at a planned housing development in Royston More than 20 people living near Ivy Farm attended Monday night s meeting of Royston town council s planning committee at which councillors voiced their o

RESIDENTS packed a council chamber to express their anger at a planned housing development in Royston

More than 20 people living near Ivy Farm attended Monday night's meeting of Royston town council's planning committee at which councillors voiced their opposition to plans for 135 homes on the site near Therfield Heath.

Royston's mayor, Cllr Rod Kennedy, who lives in Heathfield, adjacent to Ivy Farm, addressed the meeting as a resident.

He said: "It is outside the Royston development area and as such must not be allowed to proceed. The council must ensure it does not support this plan now, as there will be no second bite of the cherry."

Cllr Kennedy also raised concerns about the impact the houses would have on the view from Therfield Heath, and questioned whether Royston's sewer network would be able to cope with the increased usage.

The committee unanimously agreed they could not support the proposals.

Cllr Lindsay Davidson said: "We need better infrastructure than we have at this present moment in time before we can consider more houses being built in Royston."

The application, which was submitted by Bidwells on behalf of landowners EW Pepper, will now go before the district council's planning committee who will decide whether or not it can go ahead.

As revealed last year in The Crow, the plans have already been scaled down once, with the number of houses being reduced from 190 to 135.

Last week we reported that Royston MP Oliver Heald joined residents opposed to the plans.

Mr Heald stated that: "Not only is an application to develop here premature, but if something were to be built here it would need to be of exceptional quality and design with a low density and significant landscaping such as trees and gardens.