Second refusal for Taylor Wimpey in Penwortham
South Ribble Council’s planning committee has turned down plans by the housebuilder and partner Homes England for 1,100 homes at one of the borough’s four major development sites.
An extraordinary meeting of the planning committee had been called for 29 November to consider the plans for The Lanes project to be delivered on a site off the A582 on the outskirts of Penwortham.
The two applications under consideration, a 920-home masterplan including local centre facilties, and a further 180 homes to the east of the main site, were both rejected unanimously.
Planning officers had recommended refusal, with the main sticking point being the lack of a firm enough commitment to a cross-borough link road, a piece of infrastructure deemed vital to the area’s development by the council.
Objections had been raised by numerous locals, along with statutory consultees including highways representatives at county and national level, Sport England, Cadent and South Ribble officers covering environmental health, public rights of way and strategic housing and planning.
A previous outline iteration of the scheme has previously been lodged with the council, along with a detailed application for the Cross-Borough Link Road. In March this year, both those applications were withdrawn, following the planning committee’s unanimous rejection of the masterplan application in September 2020.
Planner Avison Young and transport consultant Vectos head the applicants’ professional advisory team. The argument was put to committee that the site is allocated (along with the Leyland test track, Cuerden and land at Farington Moss) for large-scale development within the borough. Further chapters in the saga seem inevitable.