Warning of ‘absolute chaos’ over housing plan for former theme park site

A councillor has warned of “absolute chaos” on the roads if plans to build 350 houses on the site of the abandoned Camelot Theme Park in Chorley are given the go-ahead.  

The latest attempt to redevelop the Charnock Richard site will be decided by a government-appointed inspector this summer.  

It comes after Story Homes took its proposal for the 25-hectare plot to appeal in the wake of Chorley Council exceeding the timeframe within which it was supposed to have reached its own decision on the scheme.

However, Cllr Alan Whittaker, who represents the Eccleston, Heskin and Charnock Richard ward, said the area would face “gridlock” if the blueprint was given the green light.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the only way the derelict land could accommodate such a huge development would be if a new M6 junction were built to serve it – but he said no housebuilder would “spend the money” needed to do that.   

This is the third time in 12 years that Story Homes has tried to secure permission to build on the medieval-themed Camelot attraction, which operated for almost 30 years until it closed down back in 2012 amid declining visitor numbers.

In 2014, a pitch to create 420 properties was rejected because of the impact it was considered they would have on the greenbelt location.  For similar reasons, a revised plan for 195 homes and an adjoining office and workshop development was blocked by Chorley Council four years later.

Demolition work on the rides and structures at the site did not begin until December 2020 when much of the site was cleared.

Story Homes lodged a fresh blueprint for the location last June, setting the clock ticking on a 13-week window for the local authority to assess the plans for 350 dwellings. By the end of the year, the company had indicated that it was going to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate for so-called “non-determination” of its application.

The LDRS understands that Chorley Council had been awaiting information from organisations with which it is legally obliged to consult over planning applications – meaning it was powerless to meet the deadline for making a decision.             

Nevertheless, the proposal will now be determined by the Planning Inspectorate following public inquiry which is due to begin on 5th May.   Anybody wishing to make comments in advance of the hearing has until 26th February to do so.

Cllr Whittaker said the overwhelming opinion amongst locals was that the sprawling estate was not wanted – a sentiment he said was reflected at a public meeting in Heskin on Saturday morning, attended by around 80 people.

“Nobody was in favour of it,” he said, adding:  “350 houses means about 600 cars coming out onto Park Hall Road, which is not even a B-road.  Everybody was concerned about the [potential for] gridlock.

“But there are other issues like [the lack of] infrastructure, such as school availability, and GP surgeries.”

Some of the responses to an online appeal by Cllr Whittaker and his fellow ward councillors Arjun Singh and Christine Heydon for people to submit comments to the Planning Inspectorate ahead of this week’s deadline suggested several locals would welcome housing on the site – with one even describing it as the “perfect” place to build and others pointing to its past use as evidence that it could cope with the traffic.

However, Cllr Whittaker insisted that Camelot was “not a good comparison”.

“It was [operating] during the summer months and was usually open from about 11am until 4pm.  What we’re talking about here is 350 houses, with people leaving from 7.30am to get to work and take children to school and then they’ll all come back late in the afternoon – it’ll be absolute chaos,” he warned. 

A transport study submitted as part of the Story Homes application forecast the new homes would create an additional 1,490 two-way vehicle trips per day in a “worst case” scenario.

The developer is planning to create what it describes as a “travel hub” as part of the development – featuring a bus interchange, with seating and shelter, and real-time travel information. 

Asked by the LDRS what he would like to see happen to the site instead of housing being built, Cllr Whittaker floated the idea of creating a park to serve “the western parishes” of the borough.

He said a smaller number of homes – around 50 – could form part of the overall vision for the plot, but described the currently proposed tally as “grossly” inappropriate, unless the developer was prepared to transform the local highway network.

“The only alternative in terms of access is if [they] wanted to put an access directly onto the M6 or [build a] a bridge over the motorway – but that would cost them money and they don’t want to spend money,” said the veteran politician, who was first elected to Chorley Council in 1982.

Meanwhile, South Ribble MP Paul Foster – who also attended the Heskin event and whose constituency covers the ex-Camelot site – told the LDRS that the housing plans were “the perfect example of a developer trying to play the system knowing it’s the last chance saloon”. 

He added:  “The Camelot site is far too isolated, with appalling infrastructure and nothing within the application will benefit the local community or address the significant issues raised time and time again by the local community, Heskin Parish Council and Chorley Council. 

“This site has been refused twice before – and the reasons for the previous refusals are as valid today as they were then.”

Speaking after the meeting in Heskin, the MP said that the concerns of councillors and residents were “wholly valid”.  

“The road network cannot cope with the current traffic volumes, there are no additional school places planned, new doctors or dentists – and anyone who knows the local area, as I do, understands it just can’t cope with a new development of this scale. 

“The revised local plan for Chorley, South Ribble and Preston is just about to be adopted; this site isn’t included within this plan as it isn’t deemed appropriate development – that is a point I will be making very clear to the planning inspector,” Mr. Foster said.

That local plan – the first joint one for the three Central Lancashire districts – will direct development across the patch until the early 2040s once it is adopted, which is expected to be before the end of this year.

The Camelot site did appear as a suggested location to be allocated for development – of up to 564 homes – in an earlier draft of the document, but was subsequently dropped.

The land is classed as previously developed greenbelt and decisions about its future use would usually hinge on an assessment of whether any proposal would have a greater impact on the “openness” of the site than the buildings that were there beforehand.

However, Chorley Council is not currently in a position to show that it has a five-year supply of land set aside to meet its new housing needs, as required by government planning rules.   In that scenario, local authorities can be obliged to permit development of a type and in a place that they would ordinarily have refused it,  unless the disadvantages of doing so would “significantly and demonstrably” outweigh the benefits – a position which the planning inspector at the forthcoming appeal will also now have to consider. 

Chorley’s housing supply situation is unlikely to change until the reset that the new Central Lancashire Local Plan will bring once it comes into force.   The strategy has recently undergone a public examination by a planning inspector, the resutls of which will come later in the later.

The LDRS approached Story Homes and Chorley Council for comment on the Camelot site appeal. 

BUILDING BENEFITS

Story Homes says its plans for the Camelot site would deliver “high quality homes in a range of styles and tenures to meet local housing need”.

A mix of detached, semi-detached and mews houses are proposed, along with apartments.  The properties would range in size from one to six bedrooms. – with four-bed dwellings accounting the largest tranche of the site, at 30 percent.

The firm’s planning application states that half of the properties would fall into the discounted ‘affordable homes’ category.

The housebuilder is also promising:

***around 50 percent of the site area will be left as open space;

***a network of walking and cycling routes through that open space on land that has previously been largely inaccessible to the public;

***retention of existing trees where possible, enhanced by additional planting;

***play facilities for young people in the new neighbourhood and the wider community;

***a new community building providing a flexible space for use by community groups and other users for a range of events and meetings;

***space for a coffee van or food truck, cycle parking and repair stand and parcel delivery lockers as part of the proposed travel hub.

***a sustainable development, with the potential for all homes to be provided with solar cells and air source heat pumps, in addition to electric vehicle charging infrastructure and very high levels of insulation and energy efficiency.

Source : Story Homes design and access statement

HAVE YOUR SAY

Anybody wishing to make a representation to the Planning Inspectorate can do so by clicking here by 26th February.

The full Story Homes proposal can be found by searching the Chorley Council planning portal for application reference 25/00577/OUTMAJ