FOR the second time in less than a year councillors voted to allow a house to be built outside a town’s development boundary and against officers’ advice.

Fenland District Council Planning Committee approved a two storey, four bedroom house at 136 London Road, Chatteris, following a plea from Council Leader Alan Melton.

It is the second time Cllr Melton – who insisted he was acting in his capacity as a ward councillor -has stepped in to plead for housing along the London Road.

He said the application by Robert German- son of the late Fenland councillor Ray German- is of “the highest quality, set in a location that is conducive to designs of this standard.”

Officers opposed development in this area but for over 30 years the town council had wanted to see this part of Chatteris developed. It would, he argued, result in the “urbanisation of London Road.”

Even though it was two thirds of a mile outside the boundary “Fenland members have constantly expressed a desire to see high quality development in and around our settlements.

“This application, if approved, will demonstrate that commitment.”

Chatteris Town Council supported the application despite a report from planning officers which claimed there had been “no justification for the proposal which would result in housing development outside the settlement limits of Chatteris.”

Last October Cllr Melton intervened to persuade the planning committee to agree to a bungalow for Ferry Farm, London Road, even though it too was outside the town boundary.

It meant that Mr and Mrs Joe Fuller could build a retirement home next to the carpet tile recycling business run by their only daughter Jo.