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Stapleford retirement village and countryside park approved by councillors




A new retirement village has been approved for Stapleford and a countryside park open to the public will be created alongside it.

The outline approval for the development on land between Haverhill Road and Hinton Way was granted on appeal in 2021.

A CGI of the retirnement village planned for Stapleford. Image: Rangeford Villages
A CGI of the retirnement village planned for Stapleford. Image: Rangeford Villages

The latest application sets out in detail what it will look like and what facilities it will offer.

South Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee heard it will offer 147 homes, with a mixture of flats and bungalows, plus a two-storey pavilion building with restaurant, cafe, bar, shop, gym, wellness area and swimming pool. There will be 139 car parking spaces for residents, staff and visitors to the retirement village.

Beside it lies land that will be turned into a countryside park open for public use.

Howard Nankivell, CEO of the applicant Rangeford Villages Ltd, said the company aimed to create “thriving communities” where people could “enjoy their later years”.

He said: “Residents in our existing communities tell me regularly how delighted they are they made the decision to move in.”

Mr Nankivell said the company had spoken to the community when preparing the plans and had undertaken “significant” pre-application discussions with council officers.

A CGI of the pavilion planned for the retirnement village in Stapleford. Image: Rangeford Villages
A CGI of the pavilion planned for the retirnement village in Stapleford. Image: Rangeford Villages

However, Cllr Jenny Flynn, from Stapleford Parish Council, said there were still concerns, likening the design of a pavilion to a ”supermarket”, adding that it had “no design references to any buildings in Stapleford”.

Describing it as an “eyesore”, she suggested it should be redesigned, removing one of the floors so that a pitched roof could be created instead of a flat roof.

She said the parish council also felt more parking spaces were needed, or cars from the development would disperse into the “narrow streets” in Stapleford.

District councillor Henry Batchelor (Lib Dem, Linton) highlighted that Cambridgeshire County Council, as the highways authority, had not objected.

Cllr Peter Sandford (Lib Dem, Caxton & Papworth) was “a little bit concerned” about the parish council’s comments and urged the developer to work on the pavilion design to find a compromise.

Cllr Dr Martin Cahn (Lib Dem, Histon & Impington) suggested the development could bring “major benefits”, highlighting the countryside park in particular. But he said changing arable land to a countryside park would take time and said the developer would need to work with specialists.

He “quite liked” the modern design and said the pavilion “could be quite a nice feature”.

Cllr Heather Williams (Con, Mordens) “sympathised” with the concerns over the pavilion but said it had been explained that it was flat due to height restrictions in the outline application.

She stressed that the choice of materials would be “really important” to help the site “fit in better with the environment”.

Councillors voted unanimously to support the plans.



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