Letter: Plan for 191 new homes will kill the fatted calf of Milford

SIR – I have looked at the proposed Pennyfarthing plans for the site off Manor Road, Milford (A&T, 2nd September), and if alarm bells don't start ringing now, they never will.

The area has been designated in the Local Plan for 110-plus mixed dwellings, some designated as 'affordable'. But, as predicted, Pennyfarthing is trying to stretch this overall total number of dwellings to 191.

No thought has been given to the impact such a large site will have on the village itself: 400-plus extra people along with 300-plus cars, all trying to squash into the existing village whose central infrastructure is already creaking. Don't forget the influx of summer visitors either.

This could kill the fatted calf that Milford has fought so hard to become over the years and will now spoil it for everyone.

Trying to get a quart into a pint pot springs to mind; it is not a case of nimbyism but just one of common sense.

There is worse to come as well. Notice the main vehicular entrance to the site off Manor Road? It ends opposite the much heralded green space, from where a footpath continues up to the alternative natural recreational greenspace (ANRG).

So what is wrong with that? It will probably be denied, but I see the ease with which that pathway could be converted to a road with virtually no alteration to the surrounding space, but would allow easy and cheap access to any future housing development earmarked on that so-called promised communal space at the back.

Call me a cynic, but I have had many long years in dealing with building companies, local authorities and architects to understand how minds work.

This is a serious threat, we ignore it at our peril.

The site will go ahead in one form or another, that is a given. But a solemn promise must be extracted from all authorities and involved parties that no further building would ever take place on this ANRG.

John Walsh,
Address supplied