Hundreds of homes are recommended for approval as part of a massive expansion of Grantham.

Two major planning applications will come before members of the planning committee of South Kesteven District Council when it meets on Wednesday December 23.

The applications form part of the Rectory Farm development, which with the nearby Poplar development to the east, make up the Grantham North West Quadrant sustainable urban extension.

The first application concerns 228 homes from Linden Homes on an 8.73ha site, which is currently agricultural land.

The site is bounded to the south by Barrowby Road (currently the A52) with low density residential estates built in the 1980s and 90s beyond. To the east is the partially constructed Poplar Farm residential development. To the north and west the site faces open countryside with the A1 trunk road further to the west.

The second application, which will also come before the planning committee on December 23, is for 220 homes from Jelson Homes on a 9.7ha site to the west of the Linden Homes application.

Reports from council planning staff confirm both applications together make up phase 1 of the wider Rectory Farm development.

They feature a mixture of 2, 3 and 4 bed dwellings in detached, semi detached and short terraced forms.

The main vehicular access to the site is proposed from a single access point on Barrowby Road whilst vehicular and additional pedestrian access would be provided on north, west and eastern boundaries to connect with Poplar Farm and other parts of Rectory Farm.

Both schemes would feature tree-lined roads and landscaping. A landscaped area of open space including attenuation ponds and an extension to the Poplar Farm School playing fields would run through the centre of the site. This open space would farm part of the wider linear park that runs east – west through the north west quadrant.

The reports also said the sites have been allocated for residential development in the Local Plan for some years.

The Poplar Farm half of the north west quadrant was granted outline planning permission for up to 1800 dwellings, a school, neighbourhood centre and other associated infrastructure in 2011.

Since them a number of reserved matters consents have been granted on the Poplar Farm site. The school, large areas of open space and most of the 672 dwellings granted under the reserved matters so far have now been completed at Poplar Farm.

On Rectory Farm, both the full applications to be considered on December 23 were submitted to SKDC in 2017, along with a much larger outline scheme for 817 homes from both the companies working together.

The report says both companies have worked with the council to amend their applications as part of a design brief. A public consultation on the brief and amended planning applications was carried out in March 2019. Linden and Jelson also submitted a viability assessment around the same time.

Rectory Farm was again allocated for housing in the recently adopted Local Plan (Jan 2020) subject to a number of development principles set out in the allocation policy.

All the outstanding issues relating to the full applications have now been resolved and the Planning Brief is due to go before Cabinet in early 2021 and will serve to guide future phases of Rectory Farm.

The council reports note the Linden application attracted 11 letters of objection and the Jelson scheme 14 objection, with opposition mainly citing the loss of farmland, a lack of need for the homes, impact on wildlife, a lack of local jobs, highways issues, amid other reasons.

However, recommending approval for both schemes, the reports says the sites are in a sustainable location and the proposed development will form part of the wider North West Quadrant sustainable urban extension contributing significantly to the Local Plan housing requirement and growth ambitions for Grantham.

They also said: "The proposal has been designed to a high standard which is in keeping with its context and the wider Rectory Farm masterplan as set out in the Draft Planning Brief. Subject to mitigation secured by conditions and a section 106 agreement, the proposal would not have unacceptable amenity, highway, flood risk or other environmental impacts."