Local plan scoping consultation

Comment

Representation ID: 5398

Received: 29/08/2026

Respondent: Christine Pearce

The village needs houses that people can afford
Haughton has no small houses. There is nothing in the lowest council tax bands and nothing suited to a young household starting out. House prices here are several times the county average. The practical result is that people who grew up in the village cannot stay in it, and families are separated by distance for no reason other than cost.
I would like the Local Plan to make room for genuinely affordable smaller homes as a purpose in themselves, rather than treating affordability as a percentage attached to an expensive scheme that would not otherwise be acceptable here.
Small additions suit Haughton. A block of housing does not
Haughton grew along a lane. Individual houses, very small groups and the conversion of buildings that already exist can sit within that pattern comfortably. What would not sit within it is a compact group of houses set back behind the frontage, in what is now an open field.
I understand the larger housing figures attached to the Haughton parcels are not proposals from the landowner’s agent at all, but the result of the Council applying a standard assumption of thirty houses to the hectare when estimating capacity. If that is right, I would ask that it be stated plainly in the evidence, because a number of that kind is easily mistaken for a plan.

Comment

Representation ID: 5399

Received: 29/08/2026

Respondent: Christine Pearce

Moss Farm is a different kind of site
One of the parcels appears to have a farmstead inside its boundary rather than beside it — buildings, yards and hardstanding already on the land. That is not the same proposition as an open field, and I do not think it should be assessed as though it were.
Adapting a group of buildings that already exists may well take less countryside than extending the village outwards. Whether it is right here depends on access, drainage, design and the effect on neighbours, and that is exactly why it deserves an appraisal of its own.
Everyday safety
Long Lane has bends, narrow stretches and long lengths with no pavement at all. When the Council assesses it, I would ask that the assessment reflect what it is like to walk along it — for children, for older residents and for anyone with a mobility difficulty — rather than only how many vehicles it can carry. Where new houses make footways or drainage works necessary, those works should be funded and delivered with the development.

Comment

Representation ID: 5400

Received: 29/08/2026

Respondent: Christine Pearce

One procedural point
Haughton has a Parish Meeting rather than a parish council. My understanding is that the village was not notified of the site call exercises in 2024 or 2026. Whatever the reason, the effect is that a settlement was discussed without its residents knowing. I would ask that Haughton Parish Meeting be contacted directly at every future stage.