Plans for 250 new homes at former Carnforth quarry site blocked by city council

Councillors discussed the plans for the Lundsfield Quarry site at the planning committee meeting today, Monday. Officers had recommended the scheme be approved, but councillors went against their advice and turned down the proposals. Nexus Planning on behalf of Homes England had applied for outline planning permission in 2019 to build the new houses at Lundsfield Quarry, to the south and east of Carnforth Rangers Football Club. The applicant wanted to demolish existing buildings (including a house) and build up to 250 houses with an associated new access, infrastructure and football club car/coach parking. The proposal would have included two zones for residential development - a small area around the Kellet Road entrance and a larger area in the body of the site. The application at the time said it was "an opportunity to clean up a contaminated brownfield site" and houses would include a mixture of short terraces and townhouses and a small number of 'mews'/ terraced houses. The reasons for delay were largely related to objections and concerns from statutory and non-statutory consultees associated with the impact on the ongoing and future use of the adjacent football playing field, ecological impacts, the feasibility of securing links over the canal, site capacity and flood risk. Amendments to the proposal were received in summer 2023, together with a full package of up-to-date supporting documents. Following this, a final suite of amendments was received in August 2024 amending the development proposal to include the provision of a football club car/coach parking area. Delays continued in response to changes to national and local planning policy, including the adoption of the Climate Emergency Local Plan, and due to the publication of the local planning authority's Strategic Flood Risk Assessment and the implications to the assessment of the application. The site consists of a mix of greenfield and previously developed land including part of the Lundsfield Quarry North Biological Heritage Site (BHS), Lundsfield Regionally Important Geological Site and extensive areas of woodland. The canal extends along the western boundary of the site and is also designated as a BHS and is regarded a non-designated heritage asset.