Broad Lane protesters win - for now

Rochdale Township Planning meeting last night formally considered the applications to build over 200 homes on an area of Protected Open Land adjacent to Broad Lane. Council planning officers had recommended that the proposals go ahead.

It was made plain at the start of the meeting that the decision of the committee was not final and binding and that any outcome would go in the form of a recommendation to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee for consideration.

The lively and, at times, passionate meeting was attended by about forty protesters; mainly from the Broad Lane Action Group (BLAG) who carried posters, occasionally made vocal protests and had to be asked by the Chair at times to allow the speakers to make their contributions without interruption.

Simon Danczuk MP also attended the meeting as did several councillors who were not on the Planning Committee. The meeting was well attended by the media, including TV.
Stephen Bell, representing Taylor Wimpey, told councillors that Rochdale needed the development to meet its future housing requirements. He told the meeting that the land had "limited economic value" and that the plans would bring "a high quality development appropriate to the local area".

In answer to questions from councillors as to why they could not build on a brown field site instead, Mr Bell replied that there were an insufficient number of these and that they were "more expensive to develop".

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, Tracy Wilson of BLAG had earlier told the meeting that at the start of the campaign by residents, she had been "warned" off by an unnamed councillor and that as a result of the protest she had been subjected to intimidation by undergoing up to a dozen "personal background checks and searches".

She went on to outline several areas of concern regarding impact upon the environment, potential flooding issues, and road safety issues. She said that she had been "horrified" at the decision of council planning officers to back the proposals. She provided the committee with detailed information regarding road traffic accidents that had occurred in the area as a consequence of speeding motorists and said that the plans would bring more traffic into the area and increase these problems.

Earlier, planning officers had warned that the costs of defending an appeal would be considerable and said that any decision not to go ahead would be overturned and "annihilated" unless the council had very clearly defined reasons for rejecting the application. Several contributors as well as vocal supporters warned the committee that it should not give in to the "fear" of having an appeal by the developers upheld by the government but that it should continue to make local decisions affecting the town in line with its own established policies.

Councillor Dale Mulgrew told the committee: “You are the custodians of Rochdale’s green fabric. People in Rochdale enjoy our green hills and [if these proposals go ahead] they will be lost for future generations.”

In the end, a vote was taken on the applications.

The motions to reject were moved by Councillor Ian Duckworth (Conservative) and seconded by the committee Chairwoman Councillor Shefali Begum. Cllr Duckworth said that the very special circumstances required to allow the development to go ahead on Protected Open Land had not been convincingly demonstrated in the planning officers’ advice.

The recommendations to reject were passed unanimously and this decision will now go to the Licensing and Regulatory Committee.

After the meeting, Tracy Wilson said that she was "delighted" with the outcome but reminded BLAG members that further efforts were still needed when the next stage was heard.

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/70751/broad-lane-residents-say-no-to-new-housing-plans  

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/72515/broad-lane-development-house-builders-go-on-pr-offensive