Northstone Planning Application – Nov 2023

On 27th October, whilst we were busy responding to the Masterplan and Design Code published by Taylor Wimpey; Northstone, one of the other developers with interests in Edenfield, submitted a planning application (2023/0396) to build 50 houses in the North of Edenfield.

So far, planning notices have not been placed on lampposts in the vicinity of this proposed development which is shown in the plan below, so if you don’t read the Free Press and aren’t one of the immediate residents you may not be aware of this. We’ve added the church and school to the developer’s site plan to help you see where this proposed development will take place.

Clearly this development will have a significant impact on residents in the North of Edenfield, school children as well as those driving through the northern end of our village.

The plan by Northstone involves two parcels of land:
Parcel 1 – Land to the west of Market Street / Blackburn Road
Parcel 2 – Land to the east of Burnley Road

We have some concerns about this development as we described on our website in July.
https://edenfieldcommunityforum.uk/2023/07/13/concerns-edenfield-h66-site-north/

• Parcel 2 is “green belt” land but described by the developer as “green field”.
  This has not (yet) been released for development by the council.
• Proposals to release further greenbelt land to be used for a car park were not included in Rossendale Borough Council’s Local Plan. Removing even more land from the greenbelt can only have a negative impact on biodiversity
• The capacity of the off-street car park proposed by Northstone to the east of Burnley Road does not appear sufficient to accommodate vehicles displaced by parking restrictions proposed for Market Street and Blackburn Road, as well as making provision for school traffic.
• There is no road safety audit for Edenfield as a whole, despite this being raised as a concern on several occasions- we do not believe the traffic proposal would pass a road safety audit
• No phasing proposal – we have concerns over road and pedestrian safety if phasing is ignored and building undertaken simultaneously by multiple developers.
• No indication that Northstone have considered the ECNF design code.
• There is still no agreed Masterplan for the whole of Edenfield agreed by developers.

ECNF will respond to the application fully, but in the meantime urge residents who would like to comment on this planning application on the council website.
Planning Application 2023/0396 – RBC website