Fireworks may fly at Preston’s planning committee this afternoon as councillors are being asked to reject a plan for 45 homes which has ruffled rural Prestonians.
AdvertisementWainhomes had applied to build houses off the A6 near Barton but has faced a backlash from residents, community groups and the Lancashire County Council highways department.
More than 60 letters of objection have been lodged against the proposal to build on countryside off the busy Garstang Road.
Barton Parish Council leads the official objections saying adding 45 homes to a village of 129 homes is “out of proportion”.
Highways officers at the county council say the junction proposed onto the A6 from the development “does not provide for safe and adequate means for both pedestrian and vehicle access due to inadequacies in the junction design and visibility.”
Planning officers at Preston City Council have recommended the plans for rejection.
They write: “The proposal for up to 45 dwellings cannot be considered to be small scale and does not represent infilling development.
“It would therefore lead to an unplanned and unwarranted intrusion into an area of open countryside which whilst close to the village would be an unnatural expansion away from the main body of the linear settlement on the opposing side of the A6 corridor.
“It would be highly prominent from the approach and departure of the village and would have a significant impact on the character and appearance of the village and its surrounding countryside, leading to an unsustainable form of development.”
The plans are due to be discussed from 1.30pm at the Town Hall by the planning committee.
Do you live in the area? What do you think of the housing plans? Let us know in the comments below