Verdict in on plans for permanent traveller site on ‘contaminated tip’ in Chorley

Mobile dwellings were driven onto the plot – a former rubbish tip, off Town Lane in Whittle-le-Woods – last August.

They arrived after a planning application had been submitted to Chorley Council to create a seven-pitch caravan development – but before the authority had decided whether or not to approve it.

Now the council’s planning committee has refused to grant retrospective permission for the move – meaning the family living there will have to leave.

However, the Lancashire Post understands the applicant intends to appeal against the decision.

The committee’s rejection of the plans came amid a slew of concerns over the contaminated nature of the land and the impact of the proposal on road safety and the character of the area.

More than 300 objections were lodged from locals – including over noise – with just two expressions of support.

Chorley planning officers had initially recommended councillors refuse the application on the basis of an objection by highways bosses at Lancashire County Council that the proposed access to the site was not safe.

However, a revised plan – which will see a new entrance created and the current one blocked off – meant that the reason for refusal could “no longer be substantiated”, Chorley Council’s principal planning officer Iain Crossland told the committee.

Following what were described as “extensive site investigations”, members heard that the Environment Agency was satisfied with a proposed remediation strategy for cleaning up the land.

Meanwhile, because the council was unable to show it had a five-year supply of sites available to meet the needs of gypsy and traveller communities, planning legislation dictated that permission should be granted unless there were significant disadvantages to doing so. However, the majority of committee members concluded that the latter was indeed the case.

They heard from Chorley North East ward councilor Jenny Whiffen – one of the representatives of the area where the traveller site had spruing up – who said it borders a village known for its “sandstone cottages”.

“The proposed development uses [no such material] and is out of keeping with the area, undermining its character,” Cllr Whiffen said.

That sentiment was shared by committee member Gordon France, who added that Town Lane was “a dangerous road” and said there was no “justification” for building on what was classed under Chorley’s current local plan as “safeguarded land”.

That would usually mean it should not be developed unless or until it is allocated for housing when the next local plan – a joint document, currently being drawn up with Preston and South Ribble – comes into force.

But the protected status afforded to the plot is lessened by the absence of the required five-year site supply, meaning applications to develop it should be refused only if the benefits of bridging the housing shortfall are “significantly and demonstrably outweighed” by any adverse effects.

The agent for the application, Mike Carr, said the situation was of the council’s own making.

“The local authority have, over time, not positively planned for all members of the community – which includes persons from the gypsy and traveller community, who share protected characteristics attached to their cultural heritage,” he said.

Mr. Carr told the committee that the council had “no deliverable supply” of sites for traveller families, in spite of equalities legislation intended to facilitate a “traditional nomadic way of life”.

He added that government planning policy had been amended late last year “to make it more equal in terms of the decision making process” for traveller site applications.

An assessment carried out in 2024 forecast a shortfall of 10 authorised traveller pitches in Chorley over the next five years – and 13 across the period covered by the forthcoming Central Lancashire Local Plan, through to 2041.

Some of that need can be accommodated on the gypsy and traveller development at Hut Lane in Heath Charnock – which was finally approved last October after a 15-year wrangle – but an additional site is still needed in the borough to meet the remaining expected demand.

Contamination concerns over ‘dumping in the dead of night’

The proposed traveller site was used as a waste tip until the late 1960s.

A submission to Chorley planners by Whittle-le-Woods Parish Council said that there are villagers who recall seeing “illegal tipping, under cover of darkness” during the latter years of the rubbish dump’s operation.

A human health risk assessment conducted on the land as part of the current planning application found that there was asbestos in the ground, which would need remediation.

It also identified potential threats from heavy metals, non-metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, along with total petroleum hydrocarbons at higher than “guideline levels”.

The Environment Agency initially objected to the proposed development due to a lack of information about whether it could lead to the pollution of a nearby watercourse. The organisation’s concerns were later overcome and it dropped its opposition, provided the works set out in a submitted “remediation strategy” were completed.

However, planning committee members were far from convinced that the approach – which was also supported by Chorley Council’s contamination officer – was safe.

Cllr Russ Green said the authority seemed to be proceeding on the basis that the remediation requirements imposed on the development were “infallible”.

But he questioned “the probability of these being implemented perfectly” when monitoring of the work could only be intermittent.

“We will be relying on the goodwill of the applicants…[and] I have concerns about [the] potential release of contaminants into the watercourse and…the air if this work isn’t carried out correctly,” Cllr Green added.

While acknowledging that the Environment Agency were the experts, Cllr Chris Snow said he feared their response to the proposal had been “inadequate”.

He also expressed alarm that the clean-up would be carried out on a “live site” that was already in use.

“We’ve got…people – kids – living on it. This borough has had lots of contaminated sites – I can’t think of any where we’ve…allowed families to be adjacent to the removal of asbestos, arsenic [and] various other contaminants,” Cllr Snow warned.

However, the council’s head of planning, Kevin Foster, said that in light of the Environment Agency’s conclusions, the local authority did not have “the technical evidence” to support refusing the application over contamination concerns.

Committee member Craige Southern said he was reassured by the remediation plans – and the fact that “timelines” had been imposed on them – adding that he would expect the council “to come down hard on any transgressions”.

‘You can’t make a mobile home out of stone’

Cllr Southern also noted that it would be unreasonable to expect the traveller site to fit in with the character of the local area – because of its inherent difference.

“[Whereas] we could have conditioned [the use of particular building] materials, had these been houses – these are mobile homes. And we can’t say [about] a mobile home [that] it’s got to be stone-faced and slate-roofed,” he said.

Fellow committee member Alex Hilton agreed and supported Cllr Southern’s proposal to approve the application.

Meanwhile, Cllr Joan Williamson questioned whether the mobile homes would even be seen provided they were suitably “screened”.

However, the majority remained opposed – and, after advice from Kevin Foster, steered their objections away from contamination and road safety, to focus solely on concerns the development was out of keeping with the area.

Cllr Arjun Singh stressed that their opposition was “not about the applicants”.

“This is about where the development sits [and] the nature of the land and the area,” he said.

The committee voted by eight votes to two to refuse the application, with one abstention.