LOVE’S Farm will finally get a community centre as well as six new retail units, a convenience store and more than 100 additional homes.

Huntingdonshire district councillors agreed on Monday to approve a planning application for community facilities and to expand the development by an additional 110 homes, bringing the total to nearly 1,430.

The meeting of the planning and development management panel at Pathfinder House approved plans for the 4,000sq ft retail building, and a single-storey, multi-use community centre, which will both be built on land around the Kester Way area.

But the decision to approve the plans was met with mixed reaction.

St Neots town councillor Bob Farrer told The Hunts Post: “We’ve been pushed into a corner and have to accept what the developers want. Anything that happens in Love’s Farm is not good for St Neots with the current infrastructure, and we should not let these 110 houses be built without the A428 being upgraded.”

Cllr Barry Chapman, executive councillor for housing and homelessness at HDC, said that although there was a real need for affordable housing in the district, the land proposed for the extra 110 homes could be better used, highlighting the need for pre-school education.

However, he said: “I am very pleased residents will get local shops. I’m also very pleased the planning committee accepted my arguments and approved the community centre. Unfortunately, by the developer linking extra homes with the retail development, the panel was faced with a difficult decision.”