Residents fear homes plan

The plan by JL Hearn, for land at Riversleigh Farm, is the latest in a string of applications targeting the village.

Mike Wright, from campaign group Warton Residents Against Poor Planning, has urged members of Fylde Council’s development management committee, which will make a decision on the site on Wednesday, to put  residents’ wishes first.

He said: “Both Fylde Council and county council representatives have repeatedly made it very clear to applicants and developers that none of the sites in Warton are suitable for major development without some sort of masterplan requiring large scale investment in the infrastructure – highways and drainage in particular.

“Yet developers continue to press on with their planning applications, currently four applications amounting to nearly 500 houses.

“There is now a high expectation in Warton that Fylde Council has listened to residents and will significantly  reduce the Local Plan housing allocation for Warton which, currently stands at 1,200  houses.”

Fylde planning officers have recommended the plan be approved, subject to a section 106 agreement, which would see the developer make financial reparations to aid the community with amenities to accompany the scale of development.

Mr Wright added: “This decision is imminent and so developers are pushing to get their applications approved before this happens.

“If Riversleigh is approved, this will give the green light to developers for hundreds more homes at this end of Warton.

“We want members of the committee to put the wishes of residents ahead of developers and, at the very least, defer this planning application until the current consultation has been concluded, the Local Plan changes have been published and the masterplan discussions for Warton have been progressed.”

Coun Michael Gilbert, from Warton Parish Council, added: “Developers are putting far too much on Warton. People want it to stay as a village.

“We do expect it’s going to grow but we do want some sort of control of it.”

Despite repeated attempts by The Gazette, no-one from JL Hearn was available for comment.