Major rural Preston housing estate has trees axed due to road safety risk

Illustration of new Higher Bartle estate

A major new housing estate in rural Preston will have fewer trees than originally planned – because of fears they could pose a road safety risk.

The 320-home development in Higher Bartle will now boast a less leafy look after highways bosses raised concerns that the foliage could interfere with visibility when drivers are approaching junctions and pulling out of driveways.

A meeting of Preston City Council’s planning committee heard that the number of trees proposed for the plot – east of Sandy Lane and west of Tabley Lane – was considered by town hall planners to be a “key strength” of the scheme.

However, roads officials at Lancashire County Council objected to the plans, warning of the “adverse effects” of the trees. The highways authority said that the blueprint for the Taylor Wimpey and Bloor Homes development had failed to include so-called “visibility splays”, which ensure good lines of sight for motorists.

The applicants subsequently submitted amended plans with those features incorporated for the junction and driveway locations closest to the proposed trees.

However, city council planning officer Patrick Marfleet said some trees had also been “taken out” in order to respond to County Hall’s “quite strong stance” on the issue.

Planning committee deputy chair Sara Holmes noted that while the “main thoroughfares” would have good tree cover, there was now very little tree planting proposed for other parts of the estate.

Mr. Marfleet said he judged the revised plans to be “a pretty good compromise”, which it had been “quite a battle” to achieve.

Phil Cousins, the city council’s development management team leader, said that after “extensive discussions”, the county authority had made it “very clear that if we increased the tree coverage on the site, the highways would not be adopted by Lancashire County Council”.

The planning committee unanimously approved the design of the development, for which outline planning permission had been almost three years ago.

After the decision, a spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said it “fully support[s]” increasing biodiversity within new housing estates.

“However, on this occasion, as a statutory consultee, we were not satisfied with the plans and made it clear we could not adopt the estate roads on principle due to the adverse effects of the proposed trees along the highway.

“When consulted upon for this planning application, we did suggest an alternative would be to provide a private verge to the rear of the footways where [a] multitude of trees could be planted.

“There are important highway safety reasons for not having trees along the highway, primarily as they obstruct visibility at junctions and driveways.

“In addition, some of the carriageways proposed in the development were not wide enough to make them suitable for adoption,” the spokesperson added.

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