Update given on controversial plans for 49 homes in Weeton

Councillors in Fylde have agreed that controversial plans to build nearly 50 new homes in the village of Weeton should be approved.

The planning scheme was opposed by a large number of residents, with 49 objectors citing concerns over highways, drainage and character impacts.

Three residents spoke at this week’s Fylde Planning Committee meeting, explaining why they were unhappy about aspects of the scheme.

But members of the planning committee voted to go along with recommendations to approve the plans, while handing over the final administrative sign-off to the senior planning officer (Service Director).

The officer will now formally issue the permission once all specific conditions and legal stipulations are met

The planning application was seeking outline permission to build up to 49 dwellings and associated infrastructure on land east of Church Road, in Weeton with Preese.

As well as residents, Weeton and Preese Parish Council and Weeton Action Group were all against the plans, which were submitted by developers Northern Trust.

But the developers said it was a high quality scheme which would offer vital new housing, including some affordable new homes, as well as a green space with a pond.

One of the campaigners, Richard McKinnon, raised concerns over wider plans for still more houses in the village, which he feared would swamp the area and said villagers had not been consulted on.

He told the meeting: “When villagers submitted comments on this application, we did so on the basis that it was an outline application for up to 49 dwellings on land east of Church Road, part of the adopted Fylde Local Plan to 2032.

“That is no longer the true position. Only days ago, the draft Fylde Local Plan to 2042 revealed that this wider area of land is now proposed for approximately 163 dwellings. That is not a small adjustment in context. It is a material change in the planning context of this application.

“We are not saying that Weeton must never grow.

“If Fylde now intends Weeton to absorb major growth, then that growth should be considered transparently, comprehensively, and as a whole — not through the piecemeal determination of the first corner of the site before the village has had any meaningful opportunity to respond to the wider proposal.”

Committee chairman, Cllr Gavin Harrison, reminded councillors that they were not being asked to decide on the wider “blue area” on the map which contained the larger allocation of 163 homes, but the current proposal of 49 homes in the smaller “red zone” only.

The planning officer’s report, recommending approval, stated that because the Council was currently unable to demonstrate a deliverable five-year supply of housing, this meant that a ‘tilted balance’ was engaged,

He said schemes that deliver residential development can be approved even where that development does not reflect the allocation of the land in the Local Plan.

The exception to this is where they lead to significant and demonstrable harm, but that was not the case here.

Councillors approved the recommendations with 5 approvals to 2 abstentions.

The approval includes a number of planning conditions and completion of a Section 106 agreement, which relates to affordable housing delivery and various infrastructure contributions being stipulated.