Delight as councillors reject controversial Galgate homes plan

Monday, 10 October 2022 16:28

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Elizabeth Hutchinson, Barbara Walker and Lisa Corkerry were delighted with the decision

Plans for 115 homes south of Lancaster have been unanimously thrown out after an outpouring of opposition by residents of Galgate.

The new housing plan at the village outside Lancaster was turned down by the Lancaster City Council planning regulatory committee at a meeting on Monday.

Councillor Alan Biddulph, a member of the committee, said the proposed housing was "cheap and nasty".

"Why do these builders always build appalling housing?" he said at the meeting.

"They are all the same."

After the decision to reject planning permission, Lisa Corkerry, vice-chair of Ellel Parish Council, said she was "delighted".

"It's been hugely controversial and I think we had more objections to the application than ever before in the area," she said.

"It would bring no benefit to Galgate at all."

LISTEN to Lisa Corkerry's reaction to the decision:

There had been almost 400 objections to the plans to build a mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced two-storey homes in a field near Highland Brow.

Several residents spoke out against the scheme at Monday's meeting, held at Morecambe Town Hall.

Megan Pickles said the scheme would attract "more cars on the road" which would be "a safety hazard and an environmental one as well".

Barbara Walker said the plans would have a "negative impact on biodiversity" in the area.

David Bland called for the committee to "protect Galgate's unique identity".

Elizabeth Hutchinson said that school and GP places in the village were "already oversubscribed".

And Councillor Sally Maddocks, who represents Ellel on the city council, said that refusing the application was "the only sensible course of action".

Council planners had recommended the scheme be refused, saying: "The proposal is considered to be of a very poor in form and layout, will have a detrimental impact on residential amenity, biodiversity and the highway network, fails to provide appropriate cycling and pedestrian links, does not adequately address flooding and drainage and fails to provide an appropriate housing mix to an appropriate standard. It also fails to adequately address school infrastructure requirements."

Stephen Harris, representing developers Wainhomes (NorthWest), said: "We disagree with the reasons for refusal.

"This is an extension to the existing village.

"The council recognises that it has a significant shortfall in housing land supply."

Residents had also complained that new housing would increase the risk of floods in the area, with many residents and businesses having suffered damage from the floods of 2017.

"Our drainage strategy will intercept surface water run-off," said Mr Harris.

"There would be a benefit in reducing surface water."

After hearing all the evidence, Councillor Roger Dennison proposed that the scheme be refused. This was seconded by Councillor Robert Redfern.

Councillor Dennison said: "I have a very grave concern that this is a poor standard of development and ill thought out."

All councillors voted to refuse the application.

Mr Harris said after the meeting that he would prefer not to comment on the decision.

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