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A DEVELOPER planning to build about 180 homes next to Huntingdonshire Regional College in Huntingdon needs to make better provision for parking and play areas, according to officials.

Linden Homes has submitted outline planning permission to develop the California Road playing fields north of the college, but Huntingdonshire District Council officers have raised concerns about the scheme and Huntingdon Town Council has recommended it is refused planning consent.

HDC officers have said in planning documents that the development was “not within reasonable walking distance of an existing play area, so onsite facilities would be essential for this community” and also raised concerns about waste removal.

Meanwhile Huntingdon Town Council’s planning committee recommended refusal of the plans as it considered the area to be “over-developed with a lack of open spaces and community facilities”.

Councillors wrote to HDC adding: “The development would have a negative, intolerable impact on existing infrastructure, surrounding developments and highways.” The committee also raised concerns about vehicle access to the site.

Cambridgeshire police’s architectural liaison officer George Sykes also said he had “grave concerns” about the development’s parking measures.

Mr Sykes said in a submission to HDC: “Vehicle crime on the Oxmoor estate is a concern. During the past year there have been seven thefts, two unauthorised takings, 34 thefts from motor vehicles, nine interferences and 86 criminal damages to vehicles. This high level of vehicle crime indicates that any new development should address the need for adequate surveillance of parking spaces.”

He added: “Failure to do this will mean that parking will occur away from designated parking places on open space at the fronts of dwellings so that residents can see their vehicles. This is likely to cause community conflict, affecting quality of life and community cohesion.”

Cambridgeshire County Council said that it sold the land to Linden Homes as part of the Oxmoor Action Plan – a scheme that has allowed money to be spent on various improvement projects in the area.

A HDC spokesman said that Oxmoor residents have benefited from the sale of four plots of land on Oxmoor for the past eight years with money put towards the £8million scheme to build the new Huntingdon library, pay for improvements to Coneygear Park and Sapley shops, build a bridge over Coneygear Road and a community centre.

A consultation on the planning application ends on April 9.