Problems are emerging over lack of a local housing plan
Keeping a close eye on life in the Valley
WHILE a lot of the post- election talk has been about how badly Labour did in the North, it hasn’t gone un- noticed that further South, the Tories have been losing ground in areas which should be blue heartlands.
The common reason given for this is that people in Southern Shires don’t like plans for lots more homes in their areas - and are punishing the Conservatives, both as the incumbent government responsible for planning law and, in many cases, the incumbent council leaders making planning decisions.
It’s a situation which is very likely to raise its head in weeks and months ahead in Rossendale, as a perfect storm of Local Plan woes, new government legislation, and a batch of highly- controversial large planning applications due to be decided.
Under new legislation being proposed by the Government, councils would determine what every piece of land in an area could be used for. Planning meetings would then stop being about whether a certain development could go ahead or not, but instead focus on issues such as what it should look like,
It’s a huge change, and one which starts to cede control of the future of areas like Rossendale from the local council to the Government.
Ultimately, the government will tell Rossendale how much space it needs to allow for certain things, and
Rossendale will have to find them.
At the moment, the council has to do that via its Local Plan, but that still leaves ample room for residents to fight any specific proposals.
The problem with the Local Plan is that Rossendale, say local Tories, doesn’t really have a Local Plan.
Indeed, the most recent one, listed on the Rossendale Council website, is listed as ‘emerging’ - and has been since 2019.
This column rarely makes predictions, but it seems logical that planning is going to be a major issue in the months ahead.
There are already a lot of homes being built in Rossendale, and many more in the pipeline.
On the edge of Haslingden alone, there is a proposal for over
130 homes overlooking Holden Vale on land residents argue is too precious to sacrifice.
Plans for housing on the site of the old Birtwistle Mill, which burnt down a few months ago, have also been shared on social media.
Such developments may be essential for the borough, but time and again, development go through without any obvious reference to the impact on local services. If a corner of Haslingden gets 300 new homes, where’s the money for the additional GP places, the new teaching provision in schools and so on?
This month, plans for 13 townhouses off the Grane Road in Haslingden will go before the planning committee, with a recommendation of approving the scheme coming from planning officers.
The only condition around supporting the wider community is a fee of £ 17,758 to improve facilities at Victoria Park. A nice thing to have, of course, but as developments pop up across the borough, surely developers should be contributing more to the essential services homeowners will need access to?
It’s a challenge which will only get bigger, with Rossendale Council required to find space for thousands of new homes.
Local election candidates of all political colours vowed to fight planning proposals they new their voters were unhappy with. Fighting them isn’t enough - coming up with a constructive way to grow Rossendale sustainably has to be the priority surely.