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"