Around 30 percent of the new homes would be affordable housing

Over 200 new homes could be built in a Cambridgeshire town. Paul Day and Winnie Day want to build up to 234 homes on land to the south of Brook Street in Soham.

Out of the homes, 30 percent will be affordable. There are also proposals for a new footbridge, parking, new roads, a public open space, landscaping and other associated works.

The site extends to around 16 hectares. It’s situated between Brook Street and Soham Lode. The applicants said this development will play an “important role in mediating between the existing built-up edge of the town and the open landscape beyond”.

The plans added: “The settlement pattern surrounding the site is mixed in age and form, and the design of the new neighbourhood needs to respond to this grain, creating a logical and well-integrated extension to Soham.”

The housing is proposed to not be on flood risk land. However, a detailed pre-application has been undertaken with the Environment Agency to “better inform” about the flood risk.

Despite being a scoping opinion planning application, some concerns have been raised by companies. Cadent Gas said the homes “may affect different public rights of way”.

It requested that the application must “clearly identify all individual public rights of way which are affected”, and asked it include a rights of way mitigation strategy. The applicants said a detailed transport assessment will be submitted with the next application.

After “lengthy pre-application discussions” with Cambridgeshire County Council, the assessment will be considered to ensure that “all junction capacity and traffic movements” have been considered.

Do you want more of the latest Cambridgeshire news as it comes in from across the county? Sign up to our dedicated newsletter to make sure you never miss a big story from Cambridge or anywhere else in the county. You can also sign up to our dedicated Traffic and Crime newsletters for the latest updates on the topics you are most interested in.