IGNORING OWN PLAN

EDENFIELD Community Neighbourhood Forum (ECNF) is concerned that Rossendale councillors appear to be ignoring their own Local Plan in their approach to a planning application for up to six dwellings adjacent to 59 Blackburn Road, Edenfield (‘Village homes are given go-ahead despite concerns,’ May 27).

The proposal concerns part of the land which was controversially stripped of green belt status and allocated for housing under reference H66 by the Local Plan approved last December.

Site H66 is estimated to yield 400 new homes and the Local Plan specifies eleven separate provisions which must be satisfied before development can be approved including that “the comprehensive development of the entire site is demonstrated through a masterplan with an agreed programme of implementation and phasing.”

No information was submitted with the application to demonstrate compliance with any of the provisions.

The Council’s Planning Officer recommended refusal of the planning application, stating that: “The development has not demonstrated compliance with Policy H66 of the

Local Plan and would fail to contribute towards a holistic development approach for the wider Allocation.

“As such, it is considered that significant harm would be caused by the development as it would result in piecemeal development outside of the required masterplanned approach to Allocation H66”.

By law a planning application must be determined in accordance with the Local Plan unless material consirerations indicate otherwise.

It is clear to ECNF, that until the provisions of the Local Plan have been satisfied and there is an agreed masterplan, the council should not approve any development on site H66.

In the Local Plan the Council stated its commitment to working in partnership with key landowners and key stakeholders, including ECNF, to ensure the preparation of a masterplan.

A further concern is that waiving the pre-requisite of a masterplan for this application could have consequences, such as putting the Council under pressure to do likewise for applications for other parts of site H66.

Edenfield Community Neighbourhood Forum