Appendix C
APPLICATION NO. A/13/77898 -ERECTION OF 39 DWELLINGS AT HERONS WHARF, APPLEY BRIDGE.
Morris Homes have now submitted their application for housing development at Heron’s Wharf. Although not directly consulted the Parish Council responded to Morris Homes’ pre-application consultation in January this year. This report concentrates on responding to points made by Morris Homes in their Design and Access Statement (already provided). Members will also find useful Wigan’s Responses to the Freedom of Information request made by Cathryn and Stuart Casey.
1. Original Comment
The statement on the purpose of this consultation is misleading in that it says that the principle of housing on this site is acceptable. Policy GB2 of the Replacement Unitary Development Plan says clearly that “Planning permission for the Development of Safeguarded Land will be granted only following a review of the Development Plan”. Sites with the same status in the Standish area were rejected by Wigan Council in their consideration of the consultation on “Options to Address the Shortfall of Housing Land Supply” (November 2012).
Morris Homes’ Comment
The comment made by Shevington Parish Council is slightly taken out of context in that the actual allocation of the site is that is “Safeguarded Land for future development” Wigan Council have long since expected this site to some forward for development and as such have been consulted on the possible use of this land. It is amongst the reasons why during recent pre-application discussions with Wigan Council that they have verified they have no objection to the principle of residential development on this land.
Further Comment.
The quote in our original comments is directly from the Development Plan. It is Morris Homes who are taking it out of context. Just because a site is safeguarded does not mean it can forward at any time.
2. Original Comment.
Although the site appears as site 939 in the recent review of the Strategy Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA), it is important to note that the role of this assessment is to inform the allocation of land through the Local Development Framework/ Local Plan. It identifies potential housing sites but leaves the policy judgements as to which sites should be allocated to the Core Strategy and other Local Plan documents. It assesses whether sites are suitable for housing, provided that are not required for other purposes in order to meet plan targets. Therefore the inclusion of any particular site(s) in the assessment should not be taken as an indication that the site would be allocated for housing, or that planning permission would be granted for housing, or any other form of development. It is also noted that the assessment sets out only 20 houses on the site under half the number in the current proposal.
Morris Homes’ Comment.
The Parish Council are right to comment that site has been identified within the SHLAA as being suitable for 20no. Dwellings. The suggestion of 20 units was previously muted by the council, as they perceived that only part of the site would be suitable for development due to flooding. A detailed Flood Risk Assessment has confirmed this to be incorrect and the entire site is suitable for development. Wigan Council have accepted these findings and the reference to 20 dwellings has been removed.
Further Comment.
The information comes from the latest version of the SHLAA published as recently as November 2012. As well as flooding the SHLAA identifies contamination as a constraint to development on this site. Morris Homes’ original scheme was for 43 dwellings.
3. Original Comment
The document mentions the need for further ground remediation work. This is particularly important as the main premises of Crown Chemicals were on the site now proposed for development. We have already asked you for details of the presence of toxic and the remediation required. We will comment further when we receive this information.
Morris Homes’ Comment.
The site is classed as contaminated land and as such it must be remediated to ensure it is suitable for residential use. The precise details of the remediation strategy, including methodology and any additional investigations have to be agreed and approved with both the environmental health office at Wigan Council and the Environment Agency. As each dwelling is complete on the development it is inspected and the soil tested by an independent consultant to ensure it is suitable for residential use. Once the whole site is build complete a final report is submitted to the environmental health office and Environment Agency to confirm that it has been completed in accordance with the agreed strategy. This is all dealt with outside the planning process.
Further Comment.
A lot more information has come to light about contamination following the Freedom of Information request. This confirms that Morris Homes’ had to be served a Breach of Condition Notice relating to contamination on their earlier development at Herons Wharf as late as 2006. It is also is clear that considerable contamination exists on the site and this needs to be dealt with before any building development takes place. Testing on a plot by plot basis seems bizarre. The Parish Council needs to contact the Environment Protection Officer at Wigan Council to ascertain the level of contamination on the site and the remediation scheme.
4. Original Comment.
We doubt that local facilities and infrastructure have sufficient capacity for the development. This is particularly with respect to local road infrastructure. There is only a single access to the site that will now have to serve double the number of dwellings. The junction with Mill Lane is just before the railway bridge. Although the stretch of Mill Lane north of the bridge has been traffic calmed, there is little visibility for vehicles turning right at the junction or vehicles approaching it from the north. We note that you have had discussions with Wigan Engineers, but have you discussed the Mill Lane/Heron’s Wharf junction with Lancashire County Council, as it is in their area.
Morris Homes’ Comment.
A detailed assessment has been carried out on the increased level of traffic the new development will generate. The assessment confirms there would be 1 additional vehicle every 2.5 minutes passing along Heron’s Wharf during peak hours. It therefore concludes that the proposed development will have minimal impact on the area and that the existing highway network has sufficient capacity.
The junction of Mill Lane and Heron’s Wharf is a controlled junction, and was designed and built to an adoptable standard which includes the provision of visibility splays. The area has an excellent safety record with no reported accidents on Heron’s Wharf or this junction. A thorough assessment of the current and future capacity of the Mill Lane and Heron’s Wharf junction has confirmed it would operate with significant spare capacity.
Further Comment.
Morris Homes’ seem more concerned with the capacity of the junction than its characteristics. Controlled junction seems to give the impression of traffic signal control, just painting lines on the road does not make it safer. The visibility splay for vehicles turning right out of Heron’s Wharf onto Mill Lane does exist but it provides little visibility of vehicles coming from the north.
CONCLUSIONS.
The decision on whether to allocate this site for housing should await the adoption of the Core Strategy and the publication of an Allocations Development Plan Document.
Publication of a site in the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment is no guarantee that the site will gain planning consent.
Considerable remediation work needs to take place before the site is suitable for housing. Contact should be made with the Environmental Protection Officer at Wigan Council to ascertain the level of contamination and the remediation required.
Despite the figures produced by Morris’ Homes on highway capacity it is felt that the junction between Heron’s Wharf and Mill Lane is inadequate to take the traffic generated by the proposed development.
Barry King
April 10th 2013