Nearly 600 new homes set to transform Bletchley’s Lakes Estate

    Monday, 28 September 2020 14:06

    By Local Democracy Reporter - David Tooley

    Serpentine Court. Photo: Flickr

    A planning application for nearly 600 homes, a community hub, business units, and an extra care home on a Milton Keynes estate has been recommended for approval.

    Proposals to demolish Serpentine Court on the Lakes Estate in Bletchley come nearly two years after residents there voted in a ballot to knock down their 1960s homes.

    The application will be decided at a meeting of Milton Keynes Council’s development control committee on Thursday, October 8.

    The plan sees two phases of redevelopment, with phase A to build 308 new homes for Serpentine Court residents and to help the council pay for the £128m plans.

    It will see 192 of the first phase 308 homes built across four sites, Stoke Road North and South, Drayton Road, Burnmoor Close/Skene Close and Melfort Drive. The rest, 116 homes, will be in the Serpentine Court area.

    Phase B will see 217 more houses built after Serpentine Court is finally demolished, and extra care housing with another 64 homes.

    Serpentine Court itself is set to be replaced by seven blocks of flats.

    There’s also plans for a new local centre, a convenience store, a dentist, a grocer and a nail/hair salon as well as space for businesses, a nursery, a community hub, and an energy centre.

    Objections have been raised from 24 residents, mainly of Kinloch Avenue who are concerned about increased levels of traffic. Ten residents have written in support of the plans.

    The council’s report to next week’s meeting says that more traffic is inevitable but overall its “highways engineer has raised no concerns or objections” and the “proposal is considered to be acceptable in this regard.”

    The estate would also see a 25 per cent shortfall in parking spaces if the plan is assessed on the council’s own parking policies.

    But council officers say the shortage is acceptable because many people living in the area don’t own cars and that is not anticipated to increase. They say the estate currently does not have a shortage of spaces.

    There has also been some opposition to removal of trees on the estate.

    Council officers have identified about 200 “low or poor quality” trees which are “applicable for removal”. They also say there are 39 high value trees, and 337 trees of moderate value to protect.

    A Bletchley councillor, Allan Rankine (Cons, Bletchley Park) has also called for a “rigorous independent assessment” by energy experts who have “no vested interests” in a new energy centre.

    The centre would use heat recovery systems and air source heat pumps that promise a 57 per cent cut in carbon dioxide.

    But Cllr Rankine says that “health, welfare and affordability should be a higher priority than carbon reduction” in the area which is one of the most deprived in the country.

    The committee meeting on Thursday, October 8, is due to be held virtually and broadcast live on the council’s YouTube channel from 7pm.

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