Homes get go ahead despite cottages fear

Blackpool Council’s planning committee gave the go ahead to the application by Newfield Construction to build six houses on land bounded by Fishers Lane, Common Edge Road and Ecclesgate Road, which is part of Marton Moss.

Previous bids to build on the land had been thrown out amid fears surrounding the potential impact on two Grade II listed cottages on Fishers Lane which at around 300 years old, are among the oldest buildings in Blackpool.

But the development had been scaled back from 14 houses, to eight and then six.

Planners said the concerns had been “satisfactorily addressed” and the benefits of developing the site as proposed outweighed “any disbenefits relating to the setting of the listed cottages beyond” as the scheme will help meet Blackpool’s housing needs.

Blackpool South MP Gordon Marsden was among those who had raised fears about the impact on the rare single-storey cobbled-walled cottages.