11.04.06: REALITY CHECK FOR NORTHERN ROUTE.
Lancashire County Council (LCC) has finally had to admit that it’s beleaguered Northern Route Link road plan has run into problems. It has been forced to delay its planning application to itself, to address the growing number of serious objections to the controversial scheme.
LCC announced last week that the application for the Heysham M6 Link road would now be heard by the Development Control Committee in June or August. The planning application, submitted last December, was originally scheduled to be determined in April or May.
The reason for the delay: “To allow key groups to register their views… Some of the groups that were consulted have either not responded or requested additional information - which takes additional time to provide.”
But the real reason is the massive opposition that has greeted the planning application for this controversial road, which will take time and money to address.
There are known to be well over 500 formal objections, including some heavyweights like the Environment Agency, English Heritage, and the Member of Parliament for the District. The Government Office for the North West has taken the unusual step of ordering LCC not to grant itself planning permission without referring to it. This is because of representations that GONW has itself received concerning the plans.
“Addressing the concerns of the Environment Agency alone will add more time and a great deal more money to the plan,” says David Gate, Chair of TSLM. “The County Council was far too quick off the mark; it failed to consult and just tried to hustle the plans through. It alone is responsible for the embarrassing position that it now finds itself in.
“LCC has promoted an £118 million (and rising) scheme which does not solve the district’s congestion problems, fails to help regeneration south of the river, cuts through communities and destroys the North Lancashire Green Belt. It is hardly surprising that the plan has run into trouble. LCC knows that if the scheme went now to a public inquiry it would be turned down.
“The Northern route has divided the district in every sense, There is a long list of non destructive alternative ideas to combat congestion; TSLM wants everyone to unite and get to work on them now.”