Nursing home part of idea for ‘blighted site’
JON MACPHERSON
AMAJOR housing development and nursing home could be built on ‘unsightly’ land.
Councillors have revealed that they have been approached by Urban Life Developments Ltd to build up to 70 homes on land next to Balfour Street, Park Road and Salisbury Street, Great Harwood.
A second part of the scheme would include either a nursing home, care facility or sheltered housing.
Ward councillor Gareth Molineux said it has been a ‘blighted site’ for many years and he is ‘looking forward to seeing the plans and the developer’s vision’.
He told the Observer: “That area has been part of the neighbourhood plan for some considerable time but it’s a blighted site and nobody has had the vision to come forward and do anything with it.
“I’m obviously open minded about what the suggestions are but I’m keen to get some develop- ment in that area.
“It was one of our election pledges that we will continue to develop that area and bring it into the 21st century rather than leaving it as just grass and mounds that have been unsightly for the last five years. It’s been 30 years since houses were knocked down on there.”
A public consultation event was due to be held at Great Harwood Golf Club on Thursday, September 28, from 7pm to 9pm.
Hyndburn council has also approved the sale of Lyndon Playing Fields in Great Harwood, which will be turned into a 217home development.
Planning permission was unanimously granted earlier this year for the scheme to the south of Harwood Lane despite more than 1,150 residents signing a petition and the Lyndon Playing Fields Association, being formed by the community to fight the plans.
Council leader Miles Parkinson told a recent full council meeting: “It was a very difficult decision but we looked at what it was doing for the whole of the town. It was not a knee-jerk response or trying to play a political game but looking to the future.
“We are providing stateof-the art facilities for Great Harwood Rovers Football Club with changing facilities, a car park and playing fields, giving a future to the Great Harwood Agricultural Society, protecting the green belt and delivering new housing to cater for different people’s needs.
“This is not just for Great Harwood but for the wider community as well.”