Scarecrow Festival

Scarecrow Festival

The Scarecrow Festival Committee, wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for the New Year.

Money Raised

Several people have asked what happens to the money raised at the Scarecrow Festival, so here is an explanation.

The festival this year was, as most people know, organised by a new committee comprising, Paul and Chris Chadford, Lisa Woods, Sandra Ericson, Gerry Hallam, Gareth Jones and Paul Leadbetter with Steve and Barbara Lowe, offering their excellent support also.

The aim of the committee is to host a community event at which the organisations in the village can raise funds for their own causes.

Starting with no funds we were grateful of a £100 donation from Ann Bishop. The Church, School, Pre-School, Uniformed Groups, Friends of the Old School, Holidays for Kids and the Football Club donated £50 each, as start-up funds for the festival (£350). Other income came from a grant from Chorley Community Housing (£396.36), selling of advertising space in the programme (£650), and sales of the programme (£833.35 – not sure how that happened when they were £2 each!) making the total income £2,329.71. Expenditure totalled £1,023.21 covering public liability insurance, programme printing, advertising and trophies, leaving a surplus of £1,306.50.

The surplus from this year will be held in reserve, to ensure there are sufficient funds to run the event again next year, even if everything goes wrong and there is no income. If the amount of reserve rises to above that required to run the event for three years, then the surplus from that will be split equally between the Church, School, Pre-School, Uniformed Groups, Friends of the Old School, Holidays for Kids and the Football Club as the organisations who provided initial start-up funds.

What is important is to recognise that the committee exists to facilitate the event, allowing organisations to raise their own funds for their own charities and good causes. Money raised at the Scarecrow Festival will be included within the accounts of those organisations, not in the Scarecrow Festival accounts. Having talked with some of the organisations that were involved, it is thought total income over the weekend exceeded £8,000. The school, for example, have said that it was their most successful Scarecrow Festival, in terms of fundraising, for several years.

Best Scarecrow

Congratulations go to the Ronfell Family, of Lichen Close, with their “Up” Scarecrow which won the Best Scarecrow Competition, as voted for by the children as they walked around the village. Second place went to Willy Wonka by the Hutchinson Family of Cherry Tree Close and Bertie Basset by John and Sue Ashton of Sharratts Path came in third.

2015

The 2015 festival is on Saturday and Sunday 12 and 13 September, this may, or may not, extend to the Friday, plans are in their infancy. What is certain is that the 2015 Festival will build on the success of the festival in 2014 and hopefully the sun will shine again.

We do need any organisations who are going to be raising funds over the Scarecrow Festival weekend to attend meetings when they can, all the meetings are open to anyone and are held on the second Monday of each month at 7:30pm in the Dog and Partridge. The reason we want people to attend these meetings is to allow events to be promoted in the programme and ideally co-ordinated so as not to clash, for example this year there was an organ recital at the Church and a dog agility display at the Football Club, both taking place at the same time. If events were co-ordinated it could result in a natural tour of the village potentially allowing more people to see what we have to offer.

Most of all we need people to create and display Scarecrows.

I can be contacted by telephone (07926 089450) if anyone wants to talk about the Scarecrow Festival, e-mail to chair.scarecrow@gmail.com or follow us on twitter @scarethecrows or Facebook “Charnock Richard Scarecrow Festival Official”.

Paul Leadbetter

Camelot Planning Application Presentation

The following are the words from the presentation I gave earlier tonight on the application to build 420 houses on the Camelot Theme Park Site, Charnock Richard (allowed 5 minutes, I timed it at 4 minutes 58 seconds). The application had no recommendation from the planning officers and was refused by the Development Control Committee.

"Members of the committee...

Park Hall has a long and varied history, going back to 882AD. Its history, as a leisure venue began in 1933 in the ownership of George Few. Mr Few sold the Hall and surrounding ancient woodland to a young John Rigby in 1970 and it was Mr Rigby who initially developed Park Hall as a dining and entertainment venue and that broad use remains there today.

Mr Rigby also developed the surrounding area, by the large scale destruction of a huge portion of Kiln Wood, a significant area of ancient woodland, to create Arena North which in its day hosted many national and regional events. Arena North was later developed into Camelot Theme Park which opened its gates in 1982. It is this area along with the land, containing no built structures, surrounding the existing Park Hall Hotel that is the subject of this planning application.

Members will be aware of the Chorley Borough Local Plan and that, in that plan, Charnock Richard is identified for small scale development and limited infill within the village, this application is neither, small scale, infill, or in the village. Indeed this is development on a large scale and out of proportion to the existing villages of Heskin and Charnock Richard.

Members will also be aware that this development is a site within the green belt and in order to overcome the harm to the green belt very special circumstances have to exist, it is the role of the developer to demonstrate that very special circumstances do exist and that the development is required.

The developer’s application suggests that very special circumstances include: creation of construction jobs, increased numbers of people in the borough who will spend money in the borough; the provision of a new homes bonus and a commuted sum to improve the boroughs existing facilities. It goes on to state the development will provide improvement to existing services via the Community Infrastructure Levy and that the houses will be of a high quality. These are not very special circumstances as all of these happen for all developments so are merely circumstances of all development and certainly not very special circumstances unique to this application, that would override the Chorley Borough Local Plan conclusion (as accepted by the inspector) that this is one of the most unsustainable sites within that plan.

Without this development Chorley Borough has in excess of 7 years’ supply of approved, deliverable, housing and the plan provides sites that, as agreed by the inspector, fulfil the housing needs of the borough until 2026. The inspector agreed that this is one of the most unsustainable sites in the Chorley Local Plan. Even after considering proposals in the planning application, the site remains unsustainable.

If permitted, this development, which is one of the most unsustainable sites within the Local Plan, would surely bring to question the validity of the local planning process.

I trust the committee will refuse this planning application on the grounds that:

1.    There is significant harm to the openness of the green belt in that the proposed built structure is far greater in volume than that existing, especially as a large part of the site is presently open and unobstructed by any form of built development. The fact that the site is largely hidden from sight does not reduce the impact on the openness of the green belt.

2.    There is no need, Chorley already has in excess of 7 years supply of housing and a plan (accepted by the inspector) that delivers the boroughs housing requirements to 2026 meaning there is no requirement to release additional land for housing in the Borough at this time.

3.    The site is not sustainable, for many reasons including, but not limited to, health and social care, school places, convenience shopping, the need to access the site by car, which is the most unsustainable method of access, with at least an additional 3,600 car movements per day (one extra vehicle every 16 seconds of the waking day onto an unclassified road). The proposed highways modifications, including the suggestion that a cycle way be introduced by placing a hard covering over what is currently largely a public footpath, is at best naïve and certainly unsustainable.

In summary this development is the wrong development, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, it is unsustainable, is out of proportion to the existing villages of Heskin and Charnock Richard, adds nothing positive to the surrounding villages and is not accompanied by the very special circumstances that would permit development. A large proportion of the circumstances provided are those that exist in any development and are not special to this particular development.

As stated about 4 minutes ago Park Hall has a long and varied history. It was in 882AD that the remains of St Cuthbert were buried in Park Hall woods. If this planning application is granted then the remains of Chorley’s Local Plan may as well be buried under the footings of the first property.

Thank you"

People Getting Involved

As I write this the sun is shining and the garden is growing well; okay, so it’s the weeds that are growing particularly well and the slugs are eating the plants. We have a Blue Tit that has just fledged its chicks from the bird box close to our Garage whilst Frank and Roxanne are making the most of the sunshine with the support of Gill.

So what has been happening?

School Woodland Garden

It was great to see that the children at School are using the Woodland Garden. Seeing the garden in use is better than any words of thanks for what was a great effort on behalf of a few people, supported by several thousand pounds of grant funding. I am pleased that I could help as much as I did. It doesn’t seem that long since the Garden was officially reopened by the Mayor of Chorley and it is now in use.

Old School / Pre-School

The Mayor made another appearance in the village to officially open the new toilet facilities at Pre-School (it’s a glamorous job being a Mayor you know). The Pre-School children took great delight in meeting the Mayor on what was a sunny day.

A new group “Friends of Charnock Richard Old School”, in which I am pleased to be involved (as Chair but more importantly actively doing stuff), has been set up to work alongside the Building Trustees, who are working to completely renovate the Grade 2 listed building to create a Community Centre.

The “Friends of…” group will be holding events to improve the appearance of the building and raise much needed funds to help maintain the Old School and prevent it from deteriorating further. The first stage of this is the general tidy up and creation of a garden in front and to the side of the Old School House, this work has been taking place since the end of April.

Significant progress has been made with several local people providing their time and energy and local companies providing their products and services at no cost. This is a genuine example of local people coming together to improve the area in which they live, for the benefit of many. Thanks must go to all those who have involved themselves. The garden will need to be maintained so if you are walking by and see some weeds feel free to pop in and pull them out.

The pictures below are from the first day, I will post other pictures soon...

Fundraising activities hosted by the Friends of Charnock Richard Old School group will include Race Nights, Comedy Nights, Photography Competitions, Talent Contests and of course a presence at the Scarecrow Festival. Your support will be appreciated.

Scarecrow Festival

The 2014 Scarecrow Festival will be taking place on the weekend of 13 and 14 September and is being facilitated by a new committee (of which I am the Chair, thanks to people for putting their trust in me); this is another event also in which I am pleased to be involved, and hope it will receive the local support that is so essential to its success. The Scarecrow Festival enables those local groups who involve themselves in the weekend to raise much needed funds and is also a fun, family friendly event. Without Scarecrows the weekend would not work so well, so please take some time to make a Scarecrow display it for all to see and attract people into the village.

Planning

Planning applications continue to be the subject of many conversations and rightly so as they affect people and also the wider area, not just in the short term but over many generations, these discussions are not always about opposing planning applications as some development can be beneficial. The planning application at Pemberton House Farm was refused permission, by the Chorley Council Development Control Committee in May, as the proposed development, at over 300% larger than the property already there, was considered inappropriate in the Green Belt and significantly outside the Chorley Council policies for redevelopment in the Green Belt.

Camelot Theme Park Site

The date of the Development Control committee at which the proposed development of 420 houses and little else, on the Camelot Theme Park Site will be presented, has been delayed until August. This is a result of the many comments that have been made by concerned individuals and organisations such as the Environment Agency, Highways Agency, LCC Highways, United Utilities and the LCC School Planning and Re-organisation team. The delay demonstrates that comments are being taken seriously by both Chorley Council and the applicant, Story Homes. If you have comment to make and have not yet done so then there is still time.

An application to fell 17 Tree Preservation Order (TPO) protected trees on the Camelot Site had been submitted. Through many negotiations and discussions and my presentation at the Development Control Committee the final approval was to fell 8 trees, including Leylandii, and replace them with native species which will automatically be covered by the same TPO.

Golf Course

In April, Wigan Athletic held a small exhibition to show their initial plans for the Golf Course, where they are intending to develop a training ground for professional football players and a category 1 academy, which is receiving mixed comments amongst those people that I have talked with. The plans exhibited extend over a larger part of the site than I had initially imagined and include a large new building in what is Green Belt land.

It would be a great benefit, in my opinion, if some of the land, not included in the development, could be used by the wider community however, until there is a plan it is difficult to make any reasoned comment and as always I will keep people informed as and when I become aware of anything which, will probably be soon.

I will not mention it this time but I will include a final picture just as a reminder…

Development Control Words from tonight - no Rock Lyrics this time

The words of my speech to Development Control Committee earlier tonight. The application 14/00178/FULMAJ Pemberton House Farm, Park Hall Road, Charnock Richard, was refused planning permission on the grounds that it is inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

I was allowed 5 minutes, time of speech 4 minutes 54 seconds. No Rock Lyrics this time though I have got some Madonna Lyrics pencilled in for a future Full Council meeting!

"In 1970 a young John Rigby purchased Park Hall from a gentleman called George Few to develop into a restaurant and banqueting venue.

This venture proved rather successful for Mr Rigby and he decided that living close by would be a good thing to do. He bought an old farmhouse just across the road from his much loved Park Hall – Pemberton House Farm.

Over the years the small farmhouse and farm buildings have, as a result of many refused and permitted planning applications and appeals, evolved into the rambling, eccentric, bungalow that stands there today.

This proposal is to demolish all the existing buildings, along with their eccentricity, and replace them with a single large scale development. At the same time there would be a change of use from class C3 (dwelling house) to class C2 a residential institution which covers residential care homes, hospitals, nursing homes, boarding schools, residential colleges and training centres.

In this instance the use, as stated in paragraph 19 of the Design and Access Statement, is for a residential care home, initially concentrating on treating a range of mental health issues.

The decision before members today, is whether the significant scale of the development is appropriate in Chorley’s Green Belt and whether there are any Very Special Circumstances, associated with provision of healthcare, that outweigh the undoubted and significant harm that such a large, rambling, development would have on that Green Belt.

I thank the council officers for, as always, a well-produced and reasoned report. I refer to paragraph 36 of that report in which reference is made to Policy 23 of the Core Strategy, the aim of which is to integrate public health principles and planning to help reduce health inequalities. This aim of integrating planning and health is to be applauded.

The NHS have been consulted on this planning application in order to identify whether there are Very Special Circumstances, that outweigh harm to the Green Belt and to determine whether there is a need for THIS facility in THIS location. The NHS response does not really provide evidence whether there is demand, or not, in this location.

I can help…

…Under a freedom of information request, of the Greater Preston; and Chorley and South Ribble Clinical Commissioning Groups and NHS England it has been identified that a range of services already exist that cater for the conditions listed and a variety of specialised community teams are commissioned to deliver provision for people with the conditions referred to in the Design and Access Statement.

NHS England support the CCG approach of providing assertive outreach teams, community mental health teams and crisis teams, on a commissioning basis, to ensure these conditions are professionally and appropriately treated and that there are no waiting lists.

Additionally, data provided by NHS England, from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, Care Quality and Outcomes Framework shows that GP surgeries, local to THIS location achieve 100% in delivering quality care in the treatments proposed and specifically in the treatment of Mental Health.

No patient goes wanting.

Whilst the local NHS response was vague this information, from the CCGs and NHS England is clear, local provision exists and is delivered without failure or waiting. This is unambiguous – Very Special Circumstances, that outweigh harm to the Chorley Green Belt, caused by a development 304% larger than the existing rambling, eccentric bungalow, do not exist.

It is essential that we protect our Green Belt as it is this that, in this instance, safeguards the Chorley countryside from encroachment.

The Design and Access Statement, at Paragraph 17, states that the site is developed and not open now and that the context of the proposed building does not have a greater impact on the openness.

The officers’ report, at paragraph 31, states the proposal results in an increase in volume of 304%. This is a significant increase by any standards and must result in more encroachment that the existing rambling, eccentric bungalow.

Further rambling development, to include the area between the eccentric house, barn and stables will significantly reduce the openness and affect visual amenity not only from Park Hall Road but especially from the tranquil footpath network along Syd Brook and from there out towards and along Chisnall Lane.

For these reasons the development must be inappropriate in the Green Belt.

In Summary:

I urge the committee to accept the officers’ recommendation to refuse planning permission as the proposed change of use, from Dwelling House to Residential Institution, is not accompanied by Very Special Circumstances that outweigh the harm to the openness of the Chorley Green Belt that this extremely large scale, obtrusive, rambling development would cause."

Rush, The Trees

This is also on my Blog Page Chisnall Planning...

The following is the presentation I gave tonight as the Borough Councillor for Chisnall Ward (Heskin, Charnock Richard and Coppull West) regarding a planning application (13/01226/TPO) to fell 18 trees (which after discussion and site visits became 17, then 13, then 8) protected by a Tree Preservation Order, at the site of the former Camelot Theme Park

Start by thanking Chair

May I start by thanking the officers for their time and efforts in working with the developer in reducing the number of trees that are the subject of this application from 17 to 8, however…

Reading through the officer's report I have the following comments:

Paragraph 11 States “The trees in question mainly comprise Leyland Cypress”, yet of those recommended for felling only 1 is a Leyland Cypress the other 7 being trees native to the UK.

Paragraph 19 makes a statement that mature trees are suppressing the younger ones and must therefore be removed to protect the younger smaller trees, this made me think of "The Trees" by the Canadian Rock Group, Rush and I never imagined getting the opportunity to recite rock lyrics in the Council Chamber, so I am going to use the opportunity…

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade
                                                                                                Musical Interlude / guitar solo

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

Back to the officers’ report…

Paragraph 15 – States the electrical supply can be isolated from the former theme park whilst retaining power to the industrial units without felling any trees.

Felling of the trees is only required to remove redundant switchgear to prevent it from becoming a potential target for theft and vandalism – this implies that thieves can remove the switchgear without having to fell any trees

If this is not the case then it suggests, to me, that the trees themselves are preventing theft. If this is not the case then I suggest the thieves be gainfully employed to remove the redundant switchgear, as they can do so without felling any trees!

I remain in principle opposed to the felling of trees that have been afforded the protection of a TPO, for anything other than them being dead, diseased or dying however can accept that in the interests of good woodland management there is, on occasion, a time when trees need to be felled; however this application is not on the basis of ensuring good woodland management, it is for convenience, as stated in Paragraph 15 the electricity network to existing business can be maintained and the site can be made safe without the felling of any trees.

If the decision of this committee is to approve the felling of the 8 trees then can I request that the replacement tree planting referred to in condition 4, is entirely of native species and of no fewer than 8?

Under TPO law (1990 Town and Country Planning Act Section 106) replacement trees will automatically be covered by the TPO, if the replacement trees are removed by the landowner or die at any time after being planted, a duty applies on the landowner to plant another of appropriate size and species. Can an informative be added to the decision notice to make this clear and avoid doubt in the future?

Tree planting provides for the amenity of a site and its surroundings, now and into the future, TPOs protect this amenity. Any new planting required, if this decision is approved, should therefore take place exclusive of any other development that might take place in this area, is it possible for this to be included within the decision, to avoid the planting of these replacement trees being subsumed within what might be a larger scale development?

Thank the committee for listening