Anger as homes plan to be considered at ‘away’ meeting
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build hundreds of homes on Churchtown farmland will go back before Sefton Council’s planning committee in Bootle next week.
The proposal, one of the most contentious in recent history in the town, is for more than 300 houses on land off Bankfield Lane.
Residents and councillors have now been left further angered by the decision to decide on the plans during the summer holidays and away from Southport.
In June, the application first went before the committee at a packed public meeting at Southport’s Royal Clifton Hotel, in which a representative for the housing developer was booed and subjected to cries of “shame”.
Numerous objections were raised, leading to a decision on the application being deferred.
Five petitions are to be raised at next week’s meeting, with a representative for each of those given a chance to speak directly to the committee.
Churchtown resident Bob Burns spoke at the previous meeting to list a host of issues with the application and will do so again in Bootle.
He is also organising a coach to take Churchtown residents to Bootle Town Hall and back for the planning committee meeting.
In June, the committee decided to defer any decision until a wide range of issues could be resolved, having almost ruled on rejecting the application outright.
Among the reasons cited for needing to defer the decision were:
Consulting with West Lancashire Borough Council.
Examining the housing mix (ie number of two/ three/four bedroom properties) to ensure it is suitable for the area’s needs. The house designs. The number of parking spaces for each property.
Flooding and drainage issues.
How to properly address any Japanese knotweed issues.
Safety and traffic concerns with only having one entrance point.
The firm behind the application, Wainhomes, defended the proposals in that meeting, saying that the land had been ear- marked for housing in the Sefton Local Plan.
Following further talks with planning officers, it submitted revised plans.
Meols Ward Cllr John Dodd criticised the council’s decision to hear the application at the meeting in Bootle and remains unconvinced that those problems have been solved.
He said: “We were surprised it’s coming to the planning committee in August.
“People are on holiday and the fact that it is in Bootle means a lot of residents are not happy.
“I thought they would CLLR JOHN DODD have left it to the next meeting in Southport in September and it doesn’t sit right at all. It feels like it’s almost being rushed through.”
Cllr Dodd says he will attend the meeting with Lib Dem colleague Cllr Dan Lewis, who will also speak against the proposals.
Cllr Dodd added: “We still have concerns, especially over transport and the amount of traffic that would be pushed along Blundell Lane.”
Mr Burns echoed those worries, arguing that “even a blind man could see one access point to all those homes isn’t safe”.
He added: “We’ll still do our best to see if the committee can understand out issues and see what they think about it all.”
A spokesman for Sefton Council said: “Planning committee meetings are scheduled a year in advance, prior to any agendas being set.
“The locations of these committees alternate between both Southport and Bootle, with planning applications from all cor- ners of the borough discussed.
“The Bankfield Lane application, which has already been heard at a previous meeting in Southport, is subject to a planning performance agreement which means there are certain timescales for the application to be discussed.
“To delay or defer discussion of this application, would breach this agreement.
“Nevertheless Ward councillors often attend planning committee and their role, as an elected official, involves representing their residents who are unable to attend themselves.”
‘It feels like it’s almost being rushed through’