APPROVAL for yet more homes to be built in Drakes Broughton has been met with dismay and disbelief as the village continues to deal with blocked drains and flooding issues exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure.
Plans to build 12 dwellings (including three affordable homes) on overgrown grassland south of Walcot Lane were submitted and approved by Wychavon District Council on January 30.
This comes hot on the heels of a shock ruling by the planning inspector to approve a separate Freshfields development in Stonebow Lane.
The Freshfields judgement – which was chiefly refused by the local authority due to inadequate surface and foul water drainage in March 2024 – went to appeal on January 22 to allow 25 properties (a mix of housing types including nine affordable homes) to be built on the 1.5ha site.
The inspector rejected the request by both the district council and Severn Trent Water (STW) to impose a so-called ‘Grampian’ condition whereby the proposed dwellings remain unoccupied until SWT had completed upgrading works to the village pumping station.
He proposed his own conditions which stated that full details of a bespoke foul drainage scheme for the site needed to be submitted to and approved by the council.
The report acknowledges that existing sewers cannot cope during high rainfall which leads to overflow of raw sewage onto local roads. A major reason why village residents have so strongly objected to a number of speculative housing proposals.
Despite similar concerns around flooding risk, district councillors voted seven to five on January 30 to permit the Walcot Lane application submitted by Juliff Homes Ltd which had previously been refused three times on matters relating to drainage and lack of 106 agreement.
Recommended for approval by officers, planning committee members were effectively told that the decision to approve Freshfields had set a precedent in terms of the approach to foul water and surface drainage concerns.
Drakes Broughton and Wadborough Parish Council strongly objected to the proposal and its chair Councillor Janet Butterworth spoke against approval of the application.
She said many questions still needed answering before a decision could be made and urged for a deferral so that “complex surface water drainage issues can be fully considered and understood” to inform decision-making.
“If the proposed drainage solution is allowed it will increase surface water flooding on Walcot Lane, Brickyard Lane, Alley Gardens, the playing fields and car park, impacting on the health and wellbeing of local residents and wider community.
“You all know that building here will have a negative impact on the local community, to build without full review and consideration of drainage to ensure everything is being done to mitigate increased flooding in the area will have serious consequences and impact on people’s lives for a very long time.”
Coun Butterworth reminded the committee that the site was not part of the South Worcestershire Development Plan Review or in accordance with the Neighbourhood Plan. She also raised concerns about traffic flow citing insufficient parking in Walcot Lane at peak times during sports competitions at the playing fields which adjoins the proposed development site.
Wychavon’s development manager Carl Brace said that although the surface water drainage problem was the key factor for refusal but had now been addressed by the developer. He added that were to defer then the proposal would be won at appeal and cost the council money to defend.
District ward representative for Drakes Broughton, Coun Rob Adams expressed dissatisfaction at the decision to the Observer.
“I am bitterly disappointed but I expected it,” and blamed the decision on the lack of a five-year housing land supply at Wychavon. “It gives very strong reasons to approve everything at this moment in time.”
He also acknowledged the dire sewage problems in Drakes Broughton including Stonebow Lane that occurred recently.
“The [foul water] system is overloaded, it bubbles up in the road and kids have to walk through it to get to school. That’s just not acceptable.”
A planning committee member, Coun Adams said he abstained from voting at the meeting had already pre-determined the application before arriving.
In total 32 representations of objection were received about the application from residents with increased flood risk, poor land drainage, inadequate foul sewer provision, loss of green space, highway safety concerns, poor design and the site not in the development plan being the chief concerns.
When asked about the lack of a five-year planning supply impacting decisions on contested housing developments, Councillor Paul Middlebrough, Wychavon’s executive board member for planning, infrastructure and urban design, said that the council was working hard to get the plan to the point it can be adopted.
He said: Without an adopted plan, we are also being forced to use a government-imposed housing calculation method, which changed in December 2024. He added that areas with up-to-date Neighbourhood Plans were in a stronger position to resist inappropriate development, and “we are supporting communities to expand the number across the district.”
