Liz Coates PICTURE-postcard Winterton will be spoiled forever if developer plans for an urban road to serve a secluded estate of nine detached houses wins planning approval, opponents say.

Liz Coates

PICTURE-postcard Winterton will be spoiled forever if developer plans for an urban road to serve a secluded estate of nine detached houses wins planning approval, opponents say.

Although the parish council agrees homes can be built on the site it is holding its hands up against attendant plans to beef up Empsons Loke - the quiet unadopted road leading to them - to a Type 3 access road which can serve up to 200 units.

Parish council chairman David Neve said turning the unmade 18-home Loke into a twin track urban road would mean sweeping away grass verges and greenery, and completely alter one of the main approaches to the tourist honeypot village famed for its wildlife- rich dunes and chocolate-box thatched cottages.

Members have already fought off a plan for 17 homes on the site and are gearing up for a second battle with Lowestoft based Badger Building who withdrew a previous application.

Mr Neve said the council was also unhappy with the design of the homes which were larger than most of the 620 others in the village and would dominate from their raised setting.

He added the urban road scheme would destroy the tranquil vista of Black Street which meanders through the village in the shadow of the towering flint church and destroy a flint wall dating from the 18th century.

Most affected home owners had written letters of objection to the borough council Mr Neve said and he urged others to do the same, adding: “Its no good afterwards saying I wish I had done so.”

Mr Neve said the village had done its bit for the borough's housing stock with a range of infill schemes creating 45 new dwellings, and that it would prefer 10 cottages at Empsons Loke with passing bays to cope with the extra traffic.

In a 12 page document compiled by the parish council in answer to the application it suggests the application breaks a string of council policies that aim to conserve, protect and enhance the quality of the environment.

The document goes on to tag as “extremely excessive and unnecessary” the highway authority's requirement of the type of road necessary to service the development.

Badger spokesman Ed Gilder said: “The land has been allocated for housing in the local plan. The access is designed to meet the county council's requirements. We have reduced it and it does provide a footpath along the frontage to the school.”

Senior borough planner Dean Minns said the Environment Agency had yet to formulate its response and that he did not expect it to go to committee until February 19.