Peel Holdings is at it again 'concreting a green field near you', as the Residents Against Inappropriate Developments (RAID) poster states.
This week, Salford City Council's planning panel is due to consider an application from Peel, or Peel Investments (North) Ltd, for permission to build 165 houses off Worsley Road, in what it calls Broadoak South.
The development would be smack in the middle of the protected Worsley Greenway, on land that the Council is proposing to officially designate as Green Belt and as Local Green Space.
Council planning officers are recommending that the application is refused as it "would fundamentally fragment and detract from the openness and continuity of the Greenway, contrary to UDP Policy EN2"; would "result in significant harm in environmental terms" and "unacceptable harm to its character and its value as an amenity and open recreation resource".
The development would also result in the need for another 47 primary school places which don't exist. To mitigate this, Peel has proposed giving land to Salford Council for a new school, together with a mere 'financial contribution' to help build it. The school, of course, would also be sited within the Greenway, in Broadoak North.
The application has been met, once again, with huge opposition 150 residents' letters, a petition, objections from residents groups RAID, Boothstown Residents Association and Moorside South Residents Association; from local councillors and from Barbara Keeley MP, who states that "Development of this scale could change the character of Worsley forever..."
Objections range from environmental issues, to traffic congestion, to the removal of mature, protected trees, to pollution, potential flooding and a lack of consultation only 65 households received information on the plans.
Planning councillors look set to refuse permission for the Peel plan and, already anticipating the result, the Salford Star understands that the company has sought to include the 165 houses and the school within a Public Inquiry into its last scheme for Broadoak, which is due to begin on 3rd October.
...Back in 2013, Peel Holdings had planning permission refused for six hundred houses and a marina it wanted to plonk in the middle of the Greenway (see previous Salford Star article click here).
Peel appealed and lost at a Public Inquiry the following year, which Eric Pickles, the then Secretary of State backed...
"The Secretary of State agreed with the Inspector's view that the intensity of the development, together with its proposed layout, would unnecessarily fragment the Worsley Greenway and totally destroy its character and continuity" a Salford Council report states
"He also concluded, in agreement with the Inspector, that there would be fundamental harm to the Greenway's openness and to its value as an amenity, recreation resource and wildlife corridor..." it adds.
Having lost, Peel applied for a judicial review and the Secretary of State's decision was subsequently quashed. Now there's a new Public Inquiry in October...and the battle with Peel Holdings begins all over again...