Verdict in on new housing development plan for "eyesore" former industrial site in Tarleton

Bella Homes NW Ltd wanted permission to demolish a warehouse and a office buildings at the former Valera Works in Plox Brow - which has been described by locals as an “eyesore” - and build five four-bedroomed detached houses and one apartment block containing two four-bedeoomed flats.

The dwellings were proposed for the northern part of the plot and each property was to be provided with private parking on a driveway and a private rear garden space. Communal parking was also proposed to serve the apartments, with 10 car parking spaces situated to the north of the apartment block and cycle parking located to the south of the building. An area of grass would have been located to the rear of the building to provide a communal garden area.

Planning permission for a similar scheme - albeit with two apartment blocks - was subject to a Judicial Review and the decision was quashed on May 12.

Now planning officers at West Lancashire Borough Council have thrown out the latest application, which had attracted objections from nearby neighbours, concerns from the Canal and River Trust over impacts on the nearby Leeds-Liverpool Canal, and a ‘holding objection’ from the Merseyside and West Lancashire Bat Group over a lack of information.

Two reasons were given. They were:

- “The submission fails to include an appropriate sequential test to demonstrate that development has been steered to areas with the lowest risk of flooding from any source. Development should not be permitted if there are reasonably available sites appropriate for the proposed development in areas with a lower risk of flooding”

- “The submission documentation fails to provide adequate justification for the loss of the employment site.”

In the refusal notification, the council takes swipe at Bella Homes NW Ltd for not entering into “meaningful pre-application discussions in relation to the planning policies and material considerations that apply to the proposal and the development shows insufficient regard to the policy requirements as detailed in the reasons above.”

Bella Homes have six months to appeal.