Why I oppose Carr Lane housing plan

1:37pm Tuesday 27th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Re: proposed housing to be built on Chorley Conference Centre site (on meadow land off Little Carr Lane, Chorley).

I am writing to object to the above for the following reasons: 1. Lack of demand for housing: I do not see that there is any need for further housing to be built in this area of Chorley at present.

There is a new development at the end of Little Carr Lane, Duxbury Gardens, the LEX site on Pilling Lane is being used for housing and I understand that the Telent factory site will also be used for housing.

I hear that there is a current slowdown in the housing market and I object to further urbanisation of our semi-rural area where there is no clear demand.

2. Need for green Breathing Space' areas: With the increased urbanisation of our community, it is even more important to maintain space for nature and recreation. This has been shown to be of benefit to physical and emotional wellbeing.

The site is constantly used by dog walkers, children and youth groups and has a positive impact on the sense of community in this area.

The Rangletts recreation area off Pilling Lane does not offer the same rural/peaceful experience. The wealth of flora and fauna growing on the current meadow adds beauty and interest to this site. We regularly see bats, blue jays, woodpeckers and frogs.

The cost of destroying areas of wildlife such as this must be considered against material gains.

3. Increased risk of flooding: The Duxbury Gardens site was built on land shown as flood plain on maps.

Since it has been built, the risk of flooding to the houses on Little Carr Lane has increased.

I observed that they needed to fill the land with substances to make it possible to build sound foundations and it took the site several months to dry out from its appearance as a lake.

The removal of trees will also have added to the amount of surface water.

The land being considered for housing is currently boggy with underlying sand, which has a great impact for wildlife and surface drainage, but which will no doubt require treatment before it can be used in this way.

Thus, rain waters will drain down into Little Carr Lane, further increasing the risk of damp and flooding.

4. Overloading of the sewerage drainage network: I have been informed that the main drain for this area of Chorley, including the housing to be built on the LEX site, is at the corner of Little Carr Lane.

It is unreasonable to keep increasing the load of sewerage on this drain which was not designed to deal with so many homes.

There is a risk of sewage leaks with the inevitable risks to health that this would entail.

5. Privacy and light: On a more personal note, the current plans for the development places housing directly behind our property.

I object to any windows placed directly looking into our house. I was concerned to see that the extension on our house has not been mapped on the plans and this must be taken into account when looking at the distance of new housing from ours.

I am also concerned that, as the land is raised in comparison to the houses currently on Little Carr Lane, there will be significant loss of light if houses are built directly behind or a three metre high boundary hedge' is grown at the boundary of our garden, (as quoted by one of the representatives from the presentation on May 20, 2008).

I hope that the current residents' views will be taken into account when looking at this development.

It was very hard to hear plans for my neighbourhood made by strangers to the area without real regard of how this will affect us.

I felt that my concerns were treated in a rather dismissive way by the representatives at the May 20 presentation.

Surely the people who live here now have the clearest idea about what is best for the area?

As a citizen of Chorley I am constantly being fed slogans A place where everyone matters' etc. At the moment I do not think that my feelings really count for anything with those in power.

Linda Robinson Little Carr Lane Chorley