Oakmere pushes back against Ribble Valley refusal

The housebuilder has appealed the Lancashire council’s rejection of its plan to build 74 homes on seven acres of former grazing land south of Accrington Road in Whalley.

Ribble Valley Council voted to refuse Oakmere Homes’ application in January after indicating it was minded to refuse it in November 2024. The application had been recommended for approval by council officers in both instances.

Councillors objected to the lack of affordable housing provision and the traffic impact. In its appeal documents, Oakmere pointed out that affordable housing would make the scheme unviable – a point that had been agreed upon by the developer, the council, and a third party. The local highway authority had also signed off on the traffic proposals.

Under Oakmere’s proposals, it would build 57 one- and two-bed, age-restricted apartments across two blocks. Each apartment would require at least one resident to be 55 years old or older. The housebuilder would also construct 17 three- and four-bed detached and semi-detached houses. A 23-space public car park, which would be handed over to the council, is also part of the plan.

Oakmere had been working with the council on the application for years, having submitted its initial application in December 2022. Subsequent meetings and two years later, it published the full sets of layout for the scheme.

The housebuilder contends that the lack of affordable housing should not carry much weight in the final planning evaluation. Instead, the focus should be on the application’s addressing of a need in the area – and of the area’s alleged lack of a five-year housing supply.

The developer cited Lane Town Planning’s report, which stated that the council has a shortfall of 528 homes. However, the council’s own housing supply statement from May 2025 refutes this – showing that there is a more than six-year supply of homes.

Even if the appeal fails, Oakmere could still build on the site. The plot has existing outline planning permission from 2012 and reserved matters approval from 2017 for 37 bungalow and 40 retirement apartments.

The project team for the scheme includes Smith & Love Planning Consultants, Envirotech, DTPC, JBA Consulting, and M&P Gadsden Consulting Engineers. The application reference number is 3/2022/1158. The appeal is under reference APP/T2350/W/25/3368139 on the Planning Inspectorate’s portal.