DEVELOPERS seeking to build a residential home in St Catherine’s Road, Grantham, have taken their case to a planning inspector.
Developers McCarthy & Stone were frustrated by the council’s decision to defer the application while requesting the size of the proposal be reduced, car parking and access arrangements be looked at again and the existing building be incorporated into the plans.
The move means the decision on whether the development is given the go-ahead has been taken out of the council’s hands.
At Tuesday’s SKDC development control committee meeting councillors planned the case for refusal to be put before the inspector.
Council officers, who had previously recommended the application be accepted, warned councillors repeatedly that the best course of action would be to focus their argument on the one area where they would be most likely to win - the size of the development.
Council officer Paul Rushworth warned councillors that if the inspector deems one of the reasons for refusal was “without merit” then the council could be faced with paying the costs of both sides.
However, councillors insisted their officers make the case for refusal on the grounds of size, access and parking.
This is likely to involve external consultants being employed by the council to make the case for refusal on access grounds, as Lincolnshire Highways had previously said it has no objections to the applicant’s plans.