SAVE Peel Hall campaigners have teamed up with one of the region’s top planning consultants who claims residents still have ‘everything to play for’ in the fight to protect the future of the last natural green space in north Warrington.
Campaigners met up Manchester-based Peter Black last week to dissect the council’s controversial Local Plan.
The meeting was arranged by Winwick Parish Council and supported by Poulton-with- Fearnhead Parish Council following a request by campaigner Wendy Johnson-Taylor, who wanted to know what the future may hold for the 65-hectare site.
She said: “We had a very productive evening and the consensus was that we still have everything to play for and that the Local Plan needs to go back to the drawing board as there is a better plan out there that is simply being ignored. Our town deserves better than this.”
Mr Black told Wendy “Warrington needs a different plan as urban sprawl has had its day. There is a different way of developing Warrington for the future in a more sustainable way. Warrington could become a much better place.”
He urged Peel Hall residents to continue concentrating on key technical issues which have already scuppered previous applications submitted by landowners Satnam Millennium Ltd.
Winwick Parish Council’s vice chairman Mike Matthews urged residents to keep fighting “We must continue to challenge this plan. We have not lost a battle yet and our next committed battle will be to get Peel Hall removed from this plan so we can safeguard it for future generations.”
Fellow campaigner Jim Sullivan added: “We have been fighting Satnam’s plans for 30 years. These plans have failed because they would have a catastrophic impact on health, quality of life and traffic congestion. This is not the time to cave in – if anything those negative impacts are far worse now than they were three decades ago. We’ve still got everything to fight on for.”
The campaign group is holding the first of two Local Plan ‘fact-finding’ workshops this Saturday ( May 18). Residents are being encouraged to attend to share their concerns about Peel Hall, find out more about the Local Plan and its impact, and how to get involved in the plan’s consultation process.
The drop-in event will be held at St Bridget’s Church, Fearnhead, between 11am and 3pm.
Meanwhile, Satnam is to go to the High Court a second time to appeal against the Secretary of State’s decision to refuse planning consent for residential development at Peel Hall.
The hearing is due to start on July 16 and is listed for three days.
1 Comment
As Jim says we’ve been fighting the Peel Hall development by Satnam for over 30 years and had many battles along the way. We have learnt a great deal and always focused on the technical issues trying to gain the evidence required each time they come back with a new application. We are now using this knowledge for the highest battle at the High Court as Satnam spends even more money to try and drive their plans forward.
Satnam are not giving in easily as the reward is worth a massive windfall for them should they succeed. They have even gone to the extent of challenging and overturning the Warrington Local Plan which has obviously brought the whole of Warrington to consider the that developers can have on the Borough with regard to quantity & quality of development, highways, environmental impact, air pollution, transport, etc if they are not challenged.
This is why we are attempting to raise the awareness of the Local Plan and the need for as many people as possible across Warrington Borough to have their say and help them make their own contribution be it by the on-line form of WBC, email, or even the old fashion pen and paper,