Pakenham man hits out at The Dell development over breaches

Proposals for a new 1.5 storey bungalow following the demolition of an existing one at The Dell off The Street in Pakenham were approved last month. 

This is the second bungalow plan for the site submitted by the same applicant, Glenn Lebbon, who was granted permission from West Suffolk Council for the first plot in 2022.

Matthew Porteous, who has lived in the village since 1998 and in a property close to The Dell for 14 years, said he is shocked permission for the second home was allowed when the developer remains in breach of the original conditions on the first plot relating to visibility splays at the access and drainage.

"There are some requirements in the original plans for the house that has been built, they went in after I pushed really hard to the planning department, that said before any work is done they had to sort certain things out," he said. 

"He started his building work in January last year without having done anything about them at all.

"I informed the council that the developer was in breach of the conditions and they said I had to contact the enforcement team. 

"But the building is now almost finished and he has only now applied for retrospective variations, a year and a half later." 

This requested variation would see the condition changed so that the vehicular access must be improved by the time it is "first occupied", rather than before work began. 

Mr Porteous, a former orthopaedic consultant for West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, branded the planning department "utterly reluctant" to do anything about the concerns. 

"They have now given permission to tear down the bungalow and build another house there," said Mr Porteous.

"It seems for me that as a concerned citizen the planning office has no interest in doing anything except supporting developers to do whatever they want.

"I am thoroughly disillusioned about the whole thing." 

Last week Kathryn Wolfe, who lives at The Greenwoods which backs onto the site, raised her concerns. 

Kathryn Wolfe, who spoke out last week (Image: Kathryn Wolfe)

She said: "Why was this allowed in the first place, why was the second one approved an why are they happy for developers to ride roughshod over the rules? Why aren't enforcement enforcing?"

A West Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “We recognise that there are current breaches of the planning permission given.

"These largely relate to delays to the water connection which has meant the driveway was not finished before the other building works took place. Officers are working closely with the developer to ensure this is resolved."

They continued: “Decisions on planning applications are made weighing up both national and local planning policies and any issues raised by objectors that directly relate to these.

"The design, siting and relationship of the proposal to other nearby homes was carefully considered and found to be acceptable, and so the scheme was approved.”

Last week, Mr Lebbon, of Oakpark Properties, said the company gained permission for the first plot following "lengthy negotiations" with West Suffolk Council and that the second plot "sailed through the planning process in record time as the design and positioning was considered very acceptable for the area." 

"During the construction phase we have had difficulties with the various services in the access road and instead of digging up the access road on numerous occasions we have decided to do the work in 'one hit' and the planning department and enforcement team at West Suffolk are fully aware of this situation," he said.

He said he has met with the enforcement team on the site and they are "more than satisfied" with the situation.

"We have a separate variation application running at the moment under their guidance regarding the timing of work to the access road," he said.

"We have full support from the planning team at West Suffolk so we are very surprised that this development of only two new dwellings is causing concern."

For more information about planning notices visit the Public Notice Portal.