[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, Postal Code]
[Date]
The Planning Department
South Ribble Borough Council
Civic Center, West Paddock
Leyland, PR25 1DH
Subject: Objection to Planning Application 07/2024/00102/OUT for Land At North Of Cocker Lane Moss Side Leyland Lancashire
Dear Sirs
I am a local resident and, unfortunately, am not comfortable with the use of internet forms and applications and so wanted to submit my objection to the development in writing, please could you confirm in writing receipt of this letter and carefully consider its contents.
The main points for my objection are as follows:
- The site isn’t allocated for residential development in the 2015 Local Plan, whose target has already been exceeded. In terms of the delayed Emerging Local Plan, the council has discounted this site in the Consultation (Central Lancashire Local Plan, Preferred Options - Part One Consultation, December 2022, Regulation 18 Consultation, Site Selection Process: Housing and Employment Land). The stated ‘Reason Discounted’ was: “Access issues - no direct access from Dunkirk Lane and Cocker Lane is at capacity. Site is within existing built-up area where there is a presumption in favour of development, however there is no immediate solution to provide a safe means of access into the site”. Nothing has changed, there is no current need, nor future requirement for a development as damaging as this to be considered.
- Cocker Lane, which has recently seen significant new development in recent years, has unsuitable road access for such a substantial additional development, either at the single entry/ exit point at the junction of Dunkirk Lane and Paradise Lane, or in terms of the physical boundaries presented on Cocker Lane itself. The proposal is for 23 dwellings, which would mean that an additional 50 to 60 cars would be transiting the Lane, with many ‘blind’ entrance/exit points/driveways/roads if implemented. The proposals set out in the Transport document are not achievable without the purchase of land from several property owners and the planning proposal as it stands represents a significant health and safety risk as Cocker Lane is a heavily used walk-through and is badly lit and poorly surfaced.
- There is only one entry and exit to both Cocker Lane (off Paradise Lane) and Paradise Lane (off Dunkirk Lane) which will cause serious congestion, especially at key times of day. All traffic will pass Moss Side Elementary School, creating not just more congestion but more importantly the risk of accidents particularly outside the school at key times.
- The entrance to the proposed development from the current turning circle would mean that the junction with Cocker Lane would be turned into a 5-way unmarked junction, with an adjacent pedestrian crossing, on a blind corner onto which will ‘spill’ the many pedestrians who use Cocker Lane.
- The field and the area in question has an ecological value due to the wildlife that occupies it such as bats, foxes, hawks, owls, and even deer. The Ecological Statement within the planning proposal, is inaccurate in its conclusions, for example stating that ‘there is no evidence of bats’ when in fact bats are numerous and clearly in evidence.
- The proposal as presented will have a dramatic and negative impact on the character of Cocker Lane, especially with the eradication of the natural verges fronting the residences below Birchwood Close. The construction of a ‘mini’ estate on the field to the north of Cocker Lane would change the nature of Cocker Lane and the properties on it.
Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Contact Information]