Amended plans for Rockwood Glass Marquee wedding venue on Burnley Pendle border recommended for refusal again

The original application, which was already recommended for refusal, was withdrawn last month to allow the developer to submit revised plans, but this has also been met with the same response.

The application, made by Amor Asset Management Ltd, is to build the ‘Rockwood Glass Marquee’ on land next to Rockwood Manor, Halifax Road. It would include catering facilities, car parking spaces, and the creation of new vehicular access point off Halifax Road.

However, hundreds of residents living nearby and across the Burnley Pendle border in Harle Syke, had objected to the plans.

Pendle Council planning officer Alex Cameron said: “The development would appear incongruous in this semi-rural setting and would have a fundamentally harmful impact upon any viewpoint from which it is visible.”

Some of the lsited reasons for refusal include:

Some of the reasons include:

Outside the settlement boundary in open countryside;

although alternative sites have apparently been looked at in the Pendle area, it would appear the only suitable one is in the developer's back garden despite Burnley Borough Council stating they may be able to help find a site in a subregional context;

the area is not served by suitable transport links and the developer's transport suggestions are inoperable hence patrons and staff would have to use their own vehicles in extreme numbers;

another sustainable wedding venue for 600 patrons has been approved nearby.

Despite amended plans showing a lowering of the level of the building resulting in tens of thousands of soil being taken off site and the area filled with concrete, Mr Cameron added: “The building would remain in an elevated position on the hillside and, due to its scale and siting, the building would be [too] prominent.

“The prominence of the development together with its design and nature would result in a significant adverse landscape and visual amenity.

“Whilst the applicant would wish to take advantage of the vista, that would have no weight against the impact that the development would have on the landscape and visual amenity of the area.”

Brierfield, Reedley and Nelson Committee will meet on Monday, March 4th at Brierfield Community Centre at 7pm to discuss the application.