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Sabden housing plans under spotlight
Marathon man Sabden resident Shaun Livesey is planning to run in the London Marathon this year to raise money for Sabden Primary School. The money will go towards an interactive whiteboard to benefit the children and community. He is still looking for more sponsorship and there are forms in both local shops. Last year Shaun posted a time of three hours, five minutes and 16 seconds, so this year he is aiming to run the 26.4 miles in three hours or less.
School
Pupils of St Mary's RC School held a bad hair day to raise money for the people in Haiti. Staff and children came with bad hair and donated almost 200.
Services
The PCC of St Nicholas's Church will meet today at 7 p.m. in the institute.
St George
Tickets are on sale for Friday's St George's Celebration in St Mary's Community Hall. Anyone wishing to have a patriotic evening of entertainment and music should go along. Tickets are 7 which includes a hot supper, disco, community singing, an MC and live music from The Kicks and Marco Galea who have given their services free. It is suitable for all ages and many people are going along in fancy dress or patriotic English themed costume – modern or medieval – but this is optional. There is a prize for the best. All proceeds go to the hall redevelopment fund. Ring 01282 778652, 775567 or 772270 for tickets. Please take your own drinks.
Council
Sabden Parish Council's April meeting in St Nicholas's Institute was attended by Couns Tony Haworth (chairman), John Shorter, Bernard Parfitt, Michael Calvert, Michael Hodds, Jean Haythornthwaite and Marion Procter, plus five members of the public. Resident Mrs Gladys Walmsley reported that the problem of her wheelie bins not being emptied had been resolved and she had received an apology from Ribble Valley Council. Mr Andrew Collinson, of Wesley Street, reported that he had received letters from the borough council and Environment Agency, but there was still no positive reply to his concerns about when the culvert under Wesley Street and Whalley Road would be repaired to prevent more flooding.
The council had no objections to plans for a new conservatory at 18 Stubbins Lane, a sun room and utility room at Pear Tree Cottage, 12 Whins Avenue, a new double garage and store room extension at Whins Lodge, or a two-storey extension at 7A Pendle Street East.
Cobden Mill
Two controversial planning applications before Ribble Valley Council have been discussed by the parish council at special planning meetings and following recent public meetings. Regarding application no. 3/2010/0001, the regeneration of Cobden Mill in Whalley Road with a mix of 49 homes, including 10 affordable ones, and business space, the council agree in principle to the redevelopment and that the combination of residential and commercial is a good mix. There are, however, concerns which have been passed to the borough council. These are: the large number of homes and the density of the proposals in the centre of the village; the height of them, some proposed are three storey which are not considered in keeping with an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; road safety and parking, as parking is already at a premium there is concern at the number of car parking spaces allocated and the increased numbers of vehicles the proposed development will generate will impact on traffic/road safety.
The cumulative effect of this proposal on the village is also a concern as Sabden has an infrastructure that can barely cope with the existing needs i.e. sewers, telephone/broadband. Councillors agreed the proposed development, along with the already approved development for 49 dwellings at Victoria Mill and the recent completion of six flats in Clitheroe Road, will greatly impact on the whole infrastructure of the village.
Housing
Sabden Parish Council has strongly objected to planning application 3/2010/0113 for eight affordable homes on land off Whalley Road and urged the borough council to turn it down for the following reasons:
Location. The site is a stand alone development and, according to the policy on affordable housing, it is preferable to integrate affordable housing into existing rather than create stand alone sites. The parish council believes opportunities to integrate into current and future proposals are available and questions RVBC's commitment to adhering to the affordable housing policy.
The site is not designated as suitable for building and is listed as an excluded site. It is outside the settlement boundary and is an isolated site which does not lend itself for inclusion of families within the village and could be termed as a ribbon development.
It has been the subject of three previous applications, one of which went to appeal. All have been refused for reasons which are still relevant - even though previous applications were for speculative housing and the current application is for affordable housing. The previous reasons for refusal were that it would result in an unacceptable extension of ribbon development along Whalley Road to the detriment of the character and setting of the village, it lies within an AONB and would be visually intrusive and detrimental to the landscape, it presents sporadic and isolated development, and would be visually intrusive and seriously detrimental to the character and amenities of the locality. The parish council believes, even though the rules for affordable housing are more flexible, the impact and detriment to the locality in an AONB are not flexible. The proposals refer to the site being brownfield when it is actually greenfield.
The effects on the environment and wildlife would be immense. Development would harm the conservation value of the site which is an area of wetlands, including swamp and wet woodland and will result in the loss of habitats on site which will have a far reaching impact. Once lost it will be lost for ever.
Light pollution. Darkness at night is one of the things that defines the countryside from urban areas. Many birds and animals are affected by stray light intruding into their night world (e.g. confusing natural patterns, deterring them from established foraging areas, and affecting breeding cycles). Lights from the houses, plus street lighting, could eliminate insects over a large area. As the insect population declines, this will have an effect on predators higher up the food chain which feed on them, including birds, lizards and frogs and small mammals including bats. These effects would be above and beyond those already caused by loss of habitat through urbanisation.
Highways and safety. The access includes land which is not owned by the developer and the council questions if permission has been sought from the owner. Photos of the access taken by the borough council are misleading and the parish council has submitted its own. There were a number of other highways and footpath objections. The development would lead to people having to cross a busy road, where sight lines are limited, creating hazards for pedestrians and drivers. The proposed development will generate more traffic and add to increased volumes on this length of road and this should be added to the increased volumes of traffic the approved development at Victoria Mill will create and the current proposal for 49 dwellings at Cobden Mill.
In its comments to the borough council, Sabden Parish Council is concerned the cummulative effect of all these extra dwellings will have a big impact on the infrastructure and highway safety of Sabden and urged it to take that into consideration.
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Weather for Clitheroe
Thursday 23 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 5 C to 11 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 25 mph
Wind direction: North
