Fresh plans for homes and allotments in Eccleston

Proposals from applicant Matacare Ltd also include 14 community allotments.

Alexis De Pol of chartered town planners De Pol Associates said: “There is a clear and increasing demand for people to grow their own food and it is understood from Chorley Council that there is currently a five year waiting list to obtain an allotment plot across the borough.

“Indeed this demand was reflected in the public consultation exercise undertaken with residents of Eccleston, with 29 per cent of respondents expressing an interest in an allotment plot.”

The allotments will be a mixture of full size plots (250 sqm) and half size plots (125 sq m), with car parking, sheds and water supply.

Meanwhile the residential element of the scheme will predominately comprise of one, two or three bedroom apartments and houses, together with a number of bungalows and a proportion of affordable housing.

The site is allocated as land for future development in the local plan.

However critics of the proposals say the area is overdeveloped already and point towards the lack of available healthcare and education provision.

If the plans went ahead one objector warned on online planning documents: “More houses would put an over whelming strain on the narrow roads, schools would struggle as well as the doctors surgery and not to mention the drains.

“Building has to stop or we will lose the village for ever.”