Guidance for submitting an objection to the Appeal ( deadline 10th June)

You can object online or by post. 

 

For online objections:

Scan the QR code above or Visit: 

 

https://appeal-planning-decision.service.gov.uk/comment-planning-appeal/enter-appeal-reference

 

Don’t forget to state the Appeal reference number which is: 6006320

 

Object my mail:

 

The Planning Inspectorate c/o QUADIENT
69 Buckingham Avenue
Slough
SL1 4P

 

Don’t forget to state the Appeal reference number which is:  6006320

When submitting objections to the appeal, please focus on the strongest planning issues likely to carry weight with the Planning Inspector. 

 

The appeal is likely to turn mainly on Green Belt openness, settlement separation, countryside encroachment, and whether this land continues to perform an important strategic Green Belt function.

 

Please write your objection in your own words and don’t copy and paste. It takes longer but our Green Belt is worth it!

 

The strongest objection points are:

1 • The site performs an important Green Belt role by maintaining one of the remaining meaningful open separations between Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne with Hest along the eastern side of the settlements. This is an important open gap helping to prevent further coalescence of the settlements.

2 • The proposal would significantly reduce the remaining Green Belt gap, materially weakening the perception of two separate settlements.

3 • The remaining narrower gap is itself under separate development pressure, meaning approval of this scheme could contribute towards further coalescence of the settlements over time.

4 • While some development has already joined parts of the settlements to the west,  the eastern Green Belt corridor now performs an especially important spatial and visual separation role.

5 • Along the A6 corridor — the principal public route through the area — Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne with Hest are still experienced as separate settlements because of the surviving openness and the drumlin landscape.

6 • The appeal site should not reasonably be regarded as “Grey Belt” land. It is undeveloped open countryside designated under both EN3 (Open Countryside) and EN4 (Green Belt).

 

•⁠  ⁠The land continues to perform important Green Belt functions by:
checking outward sprawl,
maintaining openness,
preserving countryside character,

and protecting settlement identity.

 

The Green Belt land between Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne with Hest forms part of the wider strategic function of the North Lancashire Green Belt in helping resist ribbon-style expansion and outward urban sprawl along the Lancaster–Carnforth corridor. The land therefore contributes not only to local openness and settlement separation, but also to the wider Green Belt purpose and function of the area when taken together as a whole.

7 • The proposal would permanently and irreversibly harm Green Belt openness through:
 large-scale housing development,
 roads and hardstanding,
 lighting,
 suburban infrastructure,
 domestic activity,

 fencing,
 parked vehicles,
 and urbanising effects.

•⁠  ⁠Landscaping and planting cannot replace the openness of undeveloped countryside or reverse permanent urbanisation.

•⁠  ⁠The appellant’s own evidence accepts that the impacts on openness would be “permanent and irreversible.”

8 • The low coastal drumlin landscape is visually sensitive and plays an important role in preserving the perception of separation between settlements. This proposal would result in irreversible harm to this landscape.

•⁠  ⁠The drumlin ridge masks built form to the west and helps maintain the visual distinction of the settlements when travelling along the A6.

9 • The A6 should not be treated as a defensible Green Belt boundary or containment feature. The road passes through the Green Belt rather than separating the site from the wider countryside east of the appeal site. 

•⁠  ⁠The A6 is a transport corridor through the Green Belt, not the edge of it.

•⁠  ⁠The appeal site remains physically, visually and functionally connected to the wider Green Belt and open countryside beyond the A6.

10 • Approval would create substantial pressure for further development on the remaining Green Belt land and would weaken the long-term defensibility of the remaining Green Belt gap.

11 • The proposal would harm the setting of Grade II listed Slyne Hall by urbanising part of its rural and historical  setting. Even “less than substantial harm” to heritage assets must still carry significant weight under national policy.

12 • This development is not a minor rounding-off exercise or contained infill scheme. It is a substantial urban extension of up to 200 dwellings into open countryside.

13.There is concern that mitigation planting or biodiversity measures would not recreate the functional ecological value of the existing open habitat.

The site currently provides habitat for :

•⁠  ⁠nesting lapwings,
•⁠  ⁠and overwintering curlews,

both of which are red-listed birds of conservation concern.

Particular concerns include:

•⁠  ⁠direct loss of nesting habitat for lapwings;
•⁠  ⁠reduction in available winter feeding habitat for curlews;
•⁠  ⁠fragmentation of the wider field network used by feeding birds;
•⁠  ⁠and urban disturbance effects associated with housing development.

Curlews rely on wider connected field systems rather than isolated individual fields alone. The adjacent network of open land helps provide:

•⁠  ⁠feeding opportunity,
•⁠  ⁠visibility,
•⁠  ⁠and relative protection from disturbance and predators.

The appeal site’s wet ground conditions and natural landform make it especially suitable for probing and feeding activity.

Locally recorded observations and dated records indicate repeated winter feeding use of the appeal site and adjoining field network by curlews. The site’s wet grassland characteristics and openness provide suitable foraging conditions within a wider connected landscape used by overwintering birds.

 

Please try to use your own words and include local knowledge where possible, such as:

•⁠  ⁠how the settlements feel separate in everyday experience;
•⁠  ⁠important views across the gap;
•  countryside character;
•⁠  ⁠wildlife and habitat observations;
•⁠  ⁠how the openness is experienced from the A6 and surrounding public areas;
•⁠  ⁠the importance of the remaining open land to local identity and landscape character.

 

Please avoid focusing mainly on:
•⁠  ⁠property values;
•⁠  ⁠construction disruption;
•⁠  ⁠general anti-development arguments;
•⁠  ⁠or simply saying “housing is not needed.”