The Planning Committee approved applications for 51 affordable homes in Preesall, flood defences in Hambleton, and a mixed-use development off the Garstang Bypass Road. They refused an application for the change of use of a house to a children's home in Preesall and deferred a decision on an application to change the use of a house to a children's home in Thornton Cleveleys.

Land Off Rosemount Avenue Preesall

The application for the erection of 51 affordable homes was approved. The application had been brought back to committee for a third time, because the Registered Provider for the site, Jigsaw Homes, was only able to offer 31 of the homes at social rent to people with a local connection to Wyre. Jigsaw Homes were using Homes England grant funding for the scheme, and as such are not able to offer all 51 homes for social rent to people with a local connection.

Requiring a local connections test for the 20 rent to buy units would have resulted in 51 affordable homes not being delivered as currently there was not any non-grant funded registered providers in a position to replace Jigsaw.

Councillor Rimmer said that she was disappointed that a longer search wasn’t taken to find a Registered Provider that was able to secure the 100% local connection. The application was approved subject to the signing of a Section 106 legal agreement to secure 61% onsite Affordable Housing and financial contributions towards healthcare and off-site Green Infrastructure.

Hambleton Flood Defences

The application for flood defences in Hambleton was approved, subject to a number of conditions and the signing of a Section 278 Agreement¹ with Lancashire County Council.

The Environment Agency applied for permission to build 1.2km of raised defences along the eastern bank of the Wyre Estuary at Hambleton to reduce the risk of flooding to 605 residential and 62 non-residential properties. The scheme comprises the construction of defence walls, flood gates and a replacement embankment, two vehicle passing places on Wardley’s Lane, two temporary construction compounds and road widening. As part of the scheme, the Environment Agency also sought permission to create a saltmarsh habitat compensation site at Rawcliffe Road in Out Rawcliffe, to include a new defence wall, breach of the existing embankment and a temporary construction compound.

The application attracted 55 representations from members of the public, 51 of which either objected to or raised concerns about the scheme. The Committee decided that the scheme's substantial public benefits outweighed the concerns that were raised. Councillor Julie Robinson requested that the application be brought before the Committee because of the significant interest and impact for Hambleton.

Land Off Garstang Bypass Road

The application for the erection of a mixed-use development off Garstang Bypass Road was approved. The application site is allocated in the Wyre Local Plan for employment development. Toll Bar Limited applied for permission to build 3 storage and distribution units (Use Class B8), 1 office building (Use Class E(g)(i)) and 2 cafe/restaurant units with drive-thru (Use Class E(b)/Sui Generis).

The application attracted a large number of representations from members of the public. 240 objections were made and 125 letters of support were received. Many of the objections related to the impact of the two proposed drive-thru restaurants on traffic in the area. Lancashire County Council Highways considered the impact of the proposal on traffic and raised no objections. The Committee decided that the proposal's benefits outweighed any potential harm that might arise from it. Councillor Bolton requested that the application be brought before the Committee because of concerns about the design of the development.

Brandwood 167 Lancaster Road Preesall

The application for the change of use of a house to a children's home in Preesall was refused. The applicant proposed changing the use of the house from Class C3a to Class C2 to allow it to be used as a children's care home for up to two children. Councillor Rimmer requested that the application be brought before the committee because of concerns about the impact of the proposal on local services and the impact of parking on residential amenity. The committee decided to refuse the application, because the proposal would lead to an unacceptable intensification of activity at the site.

The proposed change of use would result in an intensification of activity at the site, having regard in particular to the frequency and pattern of visits by staff, and an increased demand for car parking. The intensification of staff movements to/from the property on a regular and frequent basis, would result in an unacceptable change in the character of the property to that of a commercial use which is out of character with the residential area.

The committee also noted that the proposal did not include an adequate Flood Risk Assessment.

12 Cambridge Road Thornton Cleveleys

The Committee deferred a decision on an application for the change of use of a house in Thornton Cleveleys. The applicant proposed changing the use of the house to a children's home for up to one child and two carers at any time. Councillor Fail requested that the application be brought before the Committee because of concerns that there was no commitment to prioritise the use to local children and because of the concentration of other children's homes in the vicinity. Councillor Fail spoke against the application.

The application was being considered against Policy HP10 of the Wyre Local Plan.

Wyre Council's policy did not control the concentration or distribution of HMOs but that should overconcentration have been a concern to the Committee, the application could have been considered unacceptable against criteria 1a of policy HP10

The Committee deferred a decision on the application because the Flood Risk Assessment submitted for the property was not considered to be adequate and needed to be reconsidered.