L’Escargotiere Ribble Valley Ltd gets go-ahead from Ribble Valley Borough Council for changes to plans for snail farm and holiday lodge development at Ribchester

The latest application by L'Escargotiere (Ribble Valley) Ltd was for variation and removal of planning conditions and included the cladding of a main snail farm building and the addition of a loading area at land off Preston Road, Ribchester.Ribble Valley Council has imposed a raft of conditions on the development which had previously aroused objections from local residents and the parish council.

The latest application by T.Ball of L’Escargotiere of Inglewhite Road, Longridge, brought further objections from the parish council and four other objection letters.

Ribble Valley Council was advised that after listening to the council’s and residents’ concerns the developer no longer sought to revise the layout of holiday lodges and the site-lay-out plan. A letter accompanying the application said “The building will remain as a building for heliculture (snail farming) and the lecture/demonstration area is to be retained.”

Controversy was caused when the developer decided to use blue cladding for the main site building, but the planning commitee was advised that goosewing grey cladding with timber boarding would now be used.

Ribchester Parish Council’s objection letter raised concerns that in the future the site would be “a cross between an industrial unit and a Snail Theme Park” and urged the council to “take every action allowable to curtail any further expansion of the site.”

It said: “Ribchester Parish Council accepts that the Snail Farm development is underway. Further, it realises that it is here to stay, and there is nothing to be done but to learn to tolerate it within its current parameters.”

The Parish Council listed other ongoing concerns and noted: “There are further worrisome additions that suggest to people living here who are watching the way the project is developing and growing that this is turning into a significant industrial development, which is totally out of place in a village environment. If the Ribble Valley is genuinely in want of a ‘Snail Farm’ then it should have been positioned on a brownfield site.”

The planning committee’s conditions included that no waste/snails from the development be disposed of within the site or wider area to avoid snails impacting on biodiversity or creating a nuisance.