Approval for new homes plan on former egg farm
DOZENS of new houses will be built near the border of Halsall and Birkdale. Plans to build 59 new homes on Fine Jane’s Farm, off Moss Road, were submitted by housing firms Pent and Jones Homes and have now been approved by West Lancashire Borough Council.
The plans were expected to be approved at a planning committee meeting in July 2017, only for the council to request an extension on the day of the hearing. A further extension meant the decision to approve the plans was only made this month, two years after the application was first registered by the council.
Under the plans, a variety of two, three and four bedroom houses with attached garages will replace the former egg production facility and field around it.
The egg farm was first used in the 1960s but ceased trading in 2007 and the site has since been earmarked for development in the West Lancashire Local Plan.
According to the developer, the plans were revised from the first draft which would have seeen 62 homes built and now include a total of 205 bedrooms.
None of the homes built will be classed as ‘affordable’. The council has allowed this, in ruling that it would be unviable for the developer to meet this requirement, given the ‘abnormal’ building costs and the requirement to pay around £500,000 as a Community Infrastructure Levy and a further £100,000 towards school places.
The council will also benefit from £400,000 in a New Homes Bonus, a fund paid to encourage councils to grant applications for housing and which must be used to benefit the community as a whole.