Lancaster vetoes 200 Green Belt homes
Deciding that the 28-acre site was not Grey Belt, city councillors voted against officer recommendation on Monday in refusing Wrenman Strategic Land’s outline application for a neighbourhood off Slyne Road in Bolton-le-Sands.
More than 660 letters of objection to the proposal had been received by the council, including formal objections from Bolton-le-Sands Parish Council and Slyne with Hest Parish Council. There had only been three letters of support.
The crux of the argument against the proposal was its location within the North Lancashire Green Belt.
Opponents said that building 200 homes on the site, which is adjacent to residential developments on its northern and western boundaries, would violate the Green Belt’s purpose of checking unrestricted urban sprawl. This is due to Bolton-le-Sands being considered a large built-up area.
However, when the Lancaster City Council planning officer filed their committee report, they had argued that Bolton-le-Sands was a village and not a large built-up area. Accordingly, they said, the site was not a strong contributor to the Green Belt urban sprawl restriction mission and thus was Grey Belt.
They had noted the benefits of the scheme – 45% affordable housing provided on site and more than 13 acres for green and blue infrastructure. Accordingly, they felt it constituted acceptable Grey Belt development.
City councillors clearly disagreed, rejecting the application.
The project team for the scheme included Lane Town Planning, Envirotech, Curtins, EPS, WSL, Redmore, UCM, and E3P. You can see the application by searching reference 25/00805/OUT on Lancaster City Council’s planning portal.
