Local Development Framework Consultation

Dear Mr Hudson
Local Plan Allocations. Response to the Consultation on the schedule of Further Proposed Main Modifications to the Local Plan – Land Allocations.
I am writing on behalf of Ulverston Town Council with reference to aspects of the modified local plan and to make general observations.
Ulverston Town Council accepts the need for housing development and that the town will eventually expand especially with the welcome new investment by major manufacturing businesses in the town.
Members understand that the land allocation process has been through a number of consultations and modifications, most recently at the public examination and has been debated at length. It also recognises the pressure that SLDC Is under to allocate land for housing and other development. The council does not propose at this late stage to present a detailed review of the allocated sites in Ulverston but will wait until they come forward. It may also consider bringing in professional support at this time.
The Town Council’s great concern remains flooding. The council does not consider that SLDC or any other agency has taken the necessary co-ordinated view to mitigate the impact of flooding on both new and existing developments and all have consistently failed to find a medium and long term solution.
Whilst new developments may be more resilient to flooding there appears to have been little learned from the plight of existing properties in recent flood events. You will be aware that most of the becks running through Ulverston converge into the town beck in Ulverston east ward. In the last six years there have been numerous incidents of flooding in this area and throughout the town centre and elsewhere. This has arisen from a combination of surface water, tidal and foul water. Councillors are concerned that additional development will force more water into south Ulverston and that the becks and drains cannot accommodate this.
The council has been in correspondence with the Environment Agency over recent flood events although to little effect. It is felt that no agency or organisation has given sufficiently detailed thought to an overarching flood mitigation scheme for Ulverston and are content to work in silos or in a piecemeal manner.
The council needs all agencies to come together, led by SLDC and supported by Ulverston Town Council, while there is still sufficient time to resolve these issues and to co-ordinate an effective solution to what we recognise is a complex problem. We would include Cumbria County Council as the highways authority in this. The council feel that their response to the consultation on the local plan does not appear to have been as thorough and considered as it should have been, and in many cases there appears to have been a complete disregard to the additional impact of traffic in narrow streets or in areas that are the main arterial route for traffic, in the interest of expediency. This applies equally to the response of the Highways Agency.
Going forward the council will expect developers to be made to provide detailed and substantive submissions on how they will mitigate the environmental impact of any development for which planning may be requested and moreover to be held to account by the planning authority if they fail in this duty.
The council wishes to be involved from the start with the proposed development briefs for all of the sites in Ulverston.
Members feel that the plan so far has been led by developers and landowners and that if councillors had been consulted at the beginning of this process then the emerging plan would have been more acceptable and valuable historical and local knowledge could have been captured. This point is illustrated in the allocation of additional housing land at Lund Farm and the council will oppose this development should it come forward for planning. It has been well known by the community for many years that this land floods consistently.
More recently at the new development at Union Lane, where a large retention tank was installed, members of the community have noted that recent heavy rain has shown that even this measure has not been sufficient and drain covers have overflowed.
Turning to the modifications, the council would make the following points:
Amendment to MM072U
The town council opposes the amendment to the above which extends the plan to incorporate site RN192.
Once again the Highways Authority’s reason for changing its mind and approving this are questionable when it states that the site can be ‘suitably accessed’ by many more vehicles. Union Lane remains a narrow road, and existing homes front directly onto the traffic, despite the changes to the historic wall, which was opposed by many concerned and angry residents who attended the council meetings. Additional development in this area, accessed as it is by narrow road in a built up area, adjacent to a very busy Health Centre and in the centre of a densely populated area is inappropriate. We would request that SLDC insist that the Highways Authority explain in detail why it maintains that this extension to the development can proceed and why it has changed its mind on this site. We would welcome a site visit with SLDC and Cumbria County Council together with ward members from town, district and county to review this decision.
Morecambe Road Scrapyard. Whilst not a modification it is important to note that the low railway bridge across North Lonsdale Road means that Morecambe Road is the principle access road to South Ulverston employment area for Lorries and for passenger vehicles. Any development on this land will put additional pressure on what is considered by many to be a dangerous and congested road. Once again the council would have expected the highways authority to have made this observation.
To conclude, the town council wishes to see a consolidated approach by all agencies to the challenge of flooding in the town. It is recognised that it is a complex problem but not insurmountable if all agencies work together. The town council will itself be establishing a town wide flood action group to bring together members of the community with important historical knowledge which in turn could provide a forum for setting down a formal route map to resolve these challenging issues.

We look forward to hearing from you.


Jayne Kendall
Town Clerk.


CC John Woodcock MP.
Cllr Peter Thornton.