Local Development Framework Consultation

AS23-S56 land at Whinney Fold, Silverdale
I reside in Silverdale very close to the land at Whinney Fold which is proposed as being suitable for development- I am therefore able to speak with the benefit of having a very good knowledge of the area in question.

• AONB –This AONB is the smallest in the country and therefore any proposal for housing development must be considered as having the potential for a major impact, whatever the size of the proposed development. In this instance I am firmly of the opinion that even 6 houses in this location should be viewed as being a major development because of the detriment it would cause to the appearance of this area and the potential it would create for further development into the valley.

• Landscape Impact-The field in question is regularly used to graze cows and sheep and forms a very attractive part of this small valley which displays so many features typical of and very special to this AONB. It is ludicrous to believe that any development of it would leave its character essentially intact and that any impact on it would be small. Nor would it be possible to adequately protect its appearance by tree screening. The view from the public footpath, (East of the site, please see photographs below) across the present rural tranquil scene would be ruined by any development and there would be inevitable noise and light pollution. The suggestion that a defensible boundary could be created in the SE edge to prevent further development into the valley must be treated with caution- a similar assurance was made in relation to the present Whinney Fold development when documents record it was stated that - “ the form of the access road has changed, its design has been downgraded to the standard required for a short residential cul –de- sac, so that there is no question of its being seen as a way of opening up the land to the South for further development. At the same time the position of the houses has been amended slightly so that it would be more difficult to extend this road; access to the field is maintained for agricultural purposes only “. If it is now proposed to flagrantly disregard this assurance, then how can any assurances now being given in relation to this new proposed development be relied upon.

• Design and layout-. At present there are 6 affordable houses in Whinney Fold which have 10 parking spaces with some on road parking. As most of the houses have 2 cars this has proved inadequate and parking disputes have occurred. Even a proposal for 6 houses would generate a lot more traffic which the layout of Whinney Fold was not designed to cope with.
• Flooding and Drainage-I am very concerned about the extra sewerage that any development would generate and as the land is low lying and at different levels then clearly electric pumps would have to be used to move the sewerage to a treatment plant. The shared systems at Stoneleigh Court and Whinney Fold have shown such shared systems are notorious for running problems, and clearly powers cuts, of which we have many in this area must inevitably increase the likelihood of effluent discharging into the bay. I would also highlight the problem of flooding in this field which had water to a depth of 4 foot in the South corner throughout December and January 2015/2016
• Road Access and transport – The Shore at Silverdale is one of the most visited parts of Silverdale-in fact it could best be described as a tourist hot spot in the AONB! This inevitably generates a lot of traffic and Shore Road, from the cattle grid to past its junction with Whinney Fold, is at weekends and Bank Holidays heavily congested and in fact often at saturation point. Surely it would be wrong to open up Whinney Fold to more traffic creating more congestion. There has previously been suggestions that Shore Road only suffers from traffic congestion at times in the holiday season when the beach car park is busy and parking by visitors to the beach occurs in Shore Road. As someone who lives at the bottom of Shore Road and sees it on a daily basis I can say most emphatically that this is not the case. I often note that there are cars parked all the way up Shore Road, and the beach car park was full. (Please see photographs below) When considering the parking facilities for visitors to the shore it is worth being mindful that the term ‘Beach Car Park’ is somewhat misleading-it is an uneven piece of shoreline that is privately owned and which floods on high tides - for these reasons most visitors choose not to park there. As this is an AONB to which we all wish to encourage visitors to come, (who spend money with local businesses) surely we shouldn’t make traffic congestion and parking a bigger problem than it already is. I also question the suitability of the site in relation to how the developers would be able to get their heavy plant machinery in and out - the road is too narrow to allow for heavy plant to access it. (Please see photographs below)

• Need-Before a green field site is destroyed for ever we have to be certain there is a need for such properties in this locality. There are presently over 20 properties for sale in Silverdale, at varying prices. I also know that when affordable housing in Whinney Fold has become vacant it has often stood empty for lengthy periods – one such house was empty for eighteen months and another for about six months.

Sheila Spencer

Photographs
Taken on Sunday 13/03/16

Photograph 1. View of site in question from Footpath. (13/03/16)
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Photograph 2. View from Footpath (13/03/16)
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Photograph 3. Shore Road parked Cars (13/03/16)
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Photograph 4. Shore Road parked Cars (13/03/16)
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Photograph 5. The Shore Car Park (13/03/16)
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Photograph 6. Whinney Fold parked Cars (13/03/16)
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