Building work to begin at The Shade
Dear Member
As you may already know, planning permission was granted in February 2017 for the construction of thirteen dwellings, including four houses and nine apartments, on land opposite The Shade and on the corner of Kingfisher Drive. Eight of the homes will be provided as affordable houses for people that are working and living in Soham parish. I am writing to let you know that work is due to commence very shortly.
This community-led housing scheme is the result of a partnership between Thrift Community Land Trust and Palace Green Homes. Palace Green Homes is a development company that is wholly owned by East Cambridgeshire District Council. PGH specialise in the delivery of community-led housing schemes and the profits that are made are re-invested back into District Council services that directly benefit local people.
A construction company, E. N. Suiter & Sons, has now been appointed to build the homes and we have agreed with them that work to prepare the site will begin this month. The site has now been cleared with construction fencing erected in readiness of building starting later this month, completion is expected by summer 2018.
The Partnership is committed to ensuring that those who will be most affected by the construction of the homes are kept informed and that we do everything we can to minimise the impacts, such as noise and dust, of the building work. The safety of the site is also of paramount importance due to the proximity of The Shade Primary School. Traffic entering and leaving the site will be carefully managed at all times by personnel. Construction workers’ cabins will be located to the south, away from the vicinity of the school. We will also look where possible to minimise deliveries to site during the school run hours and have written to parents and carers to let them know about work starting on site.
In order to help the development run smoothly we have asked local residents and parents that have been using the unmade track to park their vehicles to find alternative parking. If vehicles are found parked it could restrict our development and we will take appropriate enforcement action to ensure removal of any vehicles.
We are very confident that this development is a great scheme for Soham, delivering much needed affordable homes for local people and tidying up a neglected piece of land in the town. There will inevitably be a degree of disruption during the construction period. However, our commitment is to do our best to manage our work so it causes as little impact as possible, keeping you informed as work progresses.
Throughout the construction period we will let you know the progress on the site. If you have any questions please contact us through the website.