A planning application to build a new café and store on land adjacent to Eaton Socon Cricket Club is set to be reviewed at a St Neots Town Council planning committee meeting.
David Cole submitted the proposal for a new café and store/workshop and boundary treatment/landscaping to Huntingdonshire District Council on June 29, and town councillors are due to discuss it on August 9.
Several residents who live nearby on Peppercorns Lane have submitted letters to HDC to share their opinions, with many objecting to the proposed access site, expressing that they are "extremely concerned".
The proposal states that access to the site will be via Peppercorns Lane, and many are anxious that new facilities and amenities will increase "unwanted" and "dangerous" traffic due to the lane being a single-track road.
One objection letter stated: "This lane is inadequate for existing traffic to and from the Cricket Club. Any additional traffic will increase the stress on Peppercorns Lane, which is not wide enough for two-way traffic and has two narrow and sharp bends with limited visibility towards its western end."
Another resident said that vehicles have already caused damage to their house driving down the lane, and more vehicles would be dangerous for the many children who use the lane.
Residents on Stratford Place and Manor House also submitted letters.
The applicant, Mr Cole, said in the application's design and access statement that customers using the proposed café are expected to be passers-by on foot or bicycles, not motor vehicles.
Therefore, the proposal didn't deem it necessary to improve access; however, it wasn't ruled out.
The planning design and access statement said: "It is envisaged that the existing access could be improved during these works, however, at this stage, it is not anticipated that persons supporting the proposed café would necessarily drive to the proposed building."
However, residents suggest that access to the site should be via Shakespeare Road, and Brian Jones, who lives on Peppercorns Lane, said: "I don't think anybody is really objecting to the café.
"The concern is that now there are so many users at the moment, and the cricket club is such a success with all the juniors, it’s a real safety problem in Peppercorns."
Another letter submitted said: "I do not object to the café, but my main concern is the increased traffic flow down peppercorn lane."
Brian suggests, with other community members, that the two bollards be removed from Shakespeare Road and then that can be used as the access site, which has a separate pedestrian pathway and adheres to highway standards.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Email Alex Gilham at: alexander.gilham@archant.co.uk.
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