Edenfield Residents may be interested to read this letter from Mike Atherton, Rossendale Council’s Head of Planning and Building Control to Pegasus Group who are acting as agents for Taylor Wimpey in respect of planning application 2022/0451 for the proposed building on Site H66 (Land West of Market Street, Edenfield).
https://edenfieldcommunityforum.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2022_0451-LETTER_FROM_HEAD_OF_PLANNING_TO_AGENT_18-05-2023-404536.pdf
The letter is very comprehensive and runs to 12 pages in total. Specific points are made in relation to Highway Matters including the requirement for a comprehensive transport assessment covering all 400 proposed homes, rather than the 238 homes in this planning application. The council is also asking proposing a review of Traffic Regulation Orders to reduce parking spaces on Exchange Street and Market Street. The council is asking the developers to provide parking spaces within their development for those people who lose parking spaces on Market Street. They also point out that performing a parking survey on a working day may result in an inaccurate picture of parking spaces required and that a survey should be performed on a weekend day. The council has also identified that the carriageway widths and pavements in the new housing development are too narrow and should be widened to comply with Lancashire County Council rules.
As well as the highway matters, there are numerous comments related to the proposed drainage within the development. Including the use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs) in the design of green spaces. The council urges Taylor Wimpey to consider the impact of flood risk, both present and future through an assessment of existing and future flood risks, identifying opportunities to mitigate and reduce flooding. The protection and enhancement of watercourses should be outlined, avoiding culverting and ensuring safe access for maintenance purposes. Future maintenance and adoption of SUDs should be considered, and phasing plans should be provided to ensure coordinated implementation and minimize flood risk during construction.
The council has identified a number of Design, Layout and Landscape Issues and makes a number of comments about the planning application, including: “masterplan and design codes are vague and many of the sketches and images are generic and not worth including.”, “Standard house types are proposed with poor design quality, poor artificial materials, lacking distinction”, “design of the dwellings require alteration and significant upgrade to reflect the character of the area”, “
2 storey, monotonous buildings throughout the site” and “real stone is required on the site…Poor quality materials are not an option. The proposed palette of budget and largely concrete-based materials is unacceptable.”
The council has effectively advised Taylor Wimpey and by extension, other developers that they need to revise the Masterplan and Design Codes significantly to address the concerns raised in the letter. The revisions should aim to create a comprehensive Masterplan/Design Code that covers the entire site allocation before future planning application submissions.
