Concerns have been expressed after news that Plymouth City Council is spearheading the construction of a new housing development on land off Stoggy Lane in Plympton.
This land which is geographically in the South Hams is owned by Plymouth City Council and would see 500 modern, energy efficient homes built, of which 150 will be affordable. The plans also include a new wetland greenspace, up to 2,000 new trees and a financial contribution towards a new sports hub at Boringdon.
Councillor Chris Penberthy, Cabinet Member for Housing, Communities and Cooperative Development, will present the plans to his cabinet colleagues at Plymouth City Council when they next meet on Monday 9 September. In advance of the meeting, Cllr Penberthy said:
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“I’m really pleased to be able to talk about this venture, which has been long in the planning.
“Plymouth, like so many other cities in the UK, is in the midst of a national housing crisis and one of the obvious solutions to this is to build more houses. That’s exactly what we’re doing here.
“The Stoggy Lane development is certainly ambitious, but we owe it to the hundreds of households on the housing waiting list to make big decisions like this and provide answers to the problems.”
Not everyone however shares Cllr Penberthy’s enthusiasm with many raising concerns over how an already stretched social infrastructure in Plympton would cope with 500 extra households on its doorstep, particularly when Sherford has yet to be finished and there is already a substantial housing development planned at Coypool.
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There are already problems with Sherford’s sewage feeding into the Marsh Mills treatment works with regular smells on the road below Hardwick Woods due to pumping issues.
Other concerns raised include the current lack of NHS dentistry in Plympton and existing difficulties accessing GP services in a timely manner as well as the effect of a significant number of extra vehicles on Plympton’s road network.
The land at Stoggy Lane, which is designated for housing in the Joint Local Plan, is currently unutilised farmland with no formal public access. Working with South Hams, Plymouth City Council have produced a masterplan ready to apply for planning permission. Before that though, a thorough public consultation on the scheme is expected to begin in September, featuring information sessions to allow residents to learn more and feedback on the plans.
That data will then be fed into a final design before a formal planning application is submitted in Spring 2025. Details on the consultation are expected to be released in the next few weeks.
(Story Courtesy of the Plympton Podcast)
