Developers put village 'under siege'

Battle lines have been drawn over a second attempt to build homes in a field between Dean Street and Hall Meadows, Trawden.

Residents are preparing to fight any move to build large numbers of new homes in their community.

Pendle Council leader Alan Davies, who represents the village, reacted defiantly to the new planning application by John and Margaret Fry to earmark the Hall Meadows site for about 40 houses.

The couple, who own the land, plan to sell it on with planning permission to a developer.

A similar application was rejected by the council last year on grounds of access. The amended scheme shows a new road off Skipton Road, the main route into the village, into the site.

Coun Davies said: "It has got to the stage where Trawden is under siege. Greedy developers seem to have their eyes on every piece of green field in the village. If they are all allowed, Trawden will be destroyed as a Pennine village community."

A decision on a separate planning application to earmark a field on the other side of Dean Street for homes is expected soon, after the developers appealed against the council's decision to refuse planning permission.

Coun Davies said the planning blueprint, the Lancashire Structure Plan, showed clearly that Trawden is a Policy 9 settlement where the only developments should be to meet local needs or on small 'infill' sites.

"It is a disgrace that these developers are trying to drive a coach and horses through the attempts by the county council and Pendle Council to plan for new development sensibly," he said.

The Dean Street/Hall Meadows application is due to go to the council's Colne area committee for a decision in March or April. But the whole question of planning policy in that part of Trawden will be considered at a special meeting of the policy committee on February 18.

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