Garden village relief road plans approved

Plans to build a £6.8m relief road that will act as the gateway to one of East Lancashire's biggest-ever housing developments have been approved.

Hyndburn Council's planning committee granted permission at a meeting on Wednesday for the new 1,200yd (1.1km) highway.

The road, described as "an attractive tree-lined corridor", will serve the planned £460m Huncoat Garden Village, which could feature 1,800 new homes.

Approval was granted despite concerns from Lancashire County Council and 15 public objections to the scheme brought forward by Hyndburn Council.

The proposed new Huncoat Lane would run from Altham Lane in the north to a roundabout on Burnley Road to the south.

It would sit to the west of the Accrington Bypass near the Griffin pub.

Former Hyndburn Council leader Miles Parkinson told the meeting that approval for the road was essential for the Huncoat Garden Village plan.

He stated that shelving the scheme would "blow a huge hole" in Hyndburn's Local Plan - the blueprint for development in the borough over the next 30 years.

Parkinson added: "Huncoat Garden Village is the local plan and the local plan is Huncoat Garden village."

Local resident Nick Whittaker called for the decision to be deferred, however, arguing there were "still major questions about the scheme that need answering".

Madelaine Davies, associate technical director at Arcadis, which is advising on the scheme, said: "This is a high-quality design to set the tone for the garden village.

"It will create an attractive tree-lined corridor as a new gateway to Huncoat. It is a sustainable, well-planned development."

Hyndburn Council Leader Munsif Dad said the new relief road and Huncoat Garden Village were the keystones of the authority's Local Plan, delivering 1,800 quality homes and £500,000 of new investment to the borough.

He added they would be the council's legacy to the area after its abolition in 2028 under the proposed local government reorganisation.

Borough town centres boss Councillor Clare Pritchard said the new road would take a significant amount of traffic out of Huncoat Village.

The planning officer's report stated that the proposal would have a "harmful effect on the character and appearance of the area", but this was to be expected with a scheme of this nature and scale.

It concluded that the benefits of the road outweighed the harm.

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