Persimmon slam the door

It is Persimmon's intention to deliver the access as approved because anything else will derail the programme."

This was Persimmon Homes’s response to continued Parish Council and public pressure for access to the Home Farm development to be rerouted through the Goodman charity land off the High Street, not via Lodge Road. Representatives of the company attended a Parish Council meeting last month.

The company argues that if they go for a new access the planning application to agree it will not allow them time to complete their building programme.

It was a crushing blow after Persimmon’s representative, Clive Drinkwater, two years ago, was highly positive about the possibility of rerouting. Since then Mr Drinkwater has left Persimmon and current management say circumstances have changed and they want to press ahead with the Lodge Road access.

The company plans to create a small "bespoke" development under its high value Charles Church brand on the charity land, with its own entrance off the High Street.

Chair of the Parish Council Mrs Delise Ball said: "The high value development on the High Street will be a showcase front door while the bulk of Home Farm residents will use the Lodge Road tradesman's entrance.

“There is no doubt that Persimmon can go down Lodge Road if they want to. But the Parish Council believes that their worries about timing could be overcome if they were willing. Their lack of cooperation is hugely disappointing.”

The meeting was originally called because Persimmon wants the Parish Council to adopt open space and play areas on Home Farm. No action was taken on this. At present Persimmon do not even own all the land but they say they have triggered the purchase of the charity land.

Persimmon were pressed to explore with Central Beds planners whether a new application, varying the entrance, could be fast tracked but they insisted that there was no point. They also claimed that they could not go through the ancient hedgerow between the charity land and the rest of Home Farm – an assertion that was vigorously challenged.

They have previously argued that they could not reroute the access because they did not own the charity land.

Persimmon said they would look at linking up the Goodman and Lodge Road accesses (creating two accesses), rerouting the construction traffic and reconsider the left turn into Lodge Road, but they made no firm commitments.