Rallying cry as crunch meeting looms on 'Bolton-le-Slyne' housing plans

Campaigners say the fate of their local area rests on a crunch meeting to decide if a controversial housing development near the A6 gets the go-ahead.

Residents have called for people to attend the Lancaster City Council planning committee meeting on Monday February 16 at Morecambe Town Hall.

Council officers have recommended that an outline application for up to 200 homes on Green Belt land west of Slyne Road, Bolton-le-Sands, be approved.

A council report said they had received 669 letters of objection to the scheme, with only three in support.

Objectors say the development would result in urban sprawl within the Green Belt and the over population of the local area, and the merging of Bolton-le-Sands and Slyne to create a 'Bolton-le-Slyne'.

The Green Belt Action Group (Slyne with Hest and Bolton le Sands) posted on social media saying "the fate of our area rests on that day" and called for a "huge public presence" at the "decisive planning meeting" to "stop the sprawl" and "green belt (being) destroyed".

Lancaster City Council planning regulatory committee meetings, where a group of elected councillors make decisions on planning applications in the local area, are open to the public.

The 11.31 hectare site, located within the North Lancashire Green Belt, is four fields on the southern edge of Bolton-le-Sands.

The southern boundary of the site is also close to the northern edge of Slyne, separated from the nearest residential development on Main Road/Slyne Road (A6) and Manor Lane by further fields.

The northern boundary is next to existing homes on Greenwood Drive, Greenwood Avenue, Pinewood Avenue and Ashworth Drive, and the eastern boundary of the site runs parallel with the A6 Slyne Road.

The outline application includes affordable housing, public open space, landscaping, and sustainable urban drainage system and associated works.

The applicant is Warren Cadman of Wrenman Strategic Land Ltd.

Below, residents Lesley Bryan and Diane Archbold, and David Morris, former MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, presented three petitions signed by 2,734 people at the official London residence of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, calling for Green Belt land between Slyne and Bolton-le-Sands to remain undeveloped.

A council report, published ahead of the meeting, explained why approval has been recommended.

It said the district's housing requirement is 10,440 new homes between 2011 and 2031, and that the council should be "facilitating the delivery of 685 dwellings per annum until 2028/2029".

However, there were only 196 new dwellings completed for the period 2024/2025, which includes 12 dwellings which were a result of new student housing, and followed a similarly low level of completions in 2023/24.

As of April 1 2025 the outstanding commitment for the district stood at 2,179 dwellings (including student accommodation and older persons accommodation).

The report said this "demonstrates a significant shortfall in housing delivery in the district" and that "the council cannot demonstrate a five-years supply of housing sites and in fact is only able to demonstrate a 2.8 years’ worth of supply of housing.

"Within recent appeal decisions relating to the delivery of housing, planning inspectors have described the council's poor housing land supply position as ‘acute’ and ‘woeful’.

"Whilst these statements were made in the context of a two year’s worth of supply of housing, the recent slight increase to 2.8 year’s worth of supply of housing is not a significant improvement."

The report also says: "The applicant has demonstrated a safe and suitable access can be provided and the impacts of development traffic would not lead to safety concerns or have residual cumulative impacts that would be severe on the network.

"Subject to pre-commencement conditions, it has been demonstrated that there are options available to ensure the development can be drained sustainability and without causing a flood risk elsewhere.

"With mitigation, the impacts of the development upon nearby designated ecological sites, upon the ecological value of the site itself and its immediate surroundings and upon most of the identified species, are acceptable.

"The application also demonstrates that there is sufficient scope to secure notable net gains in biodiversity at the reserved matters stage.

"It has also satisfactorily demonstrated that the development would secure acceptable standards of amenity for existing and future residents.

"The main issues weighing against the proposal relate to the localised landscape impacts, which would be most prevalent during the construction and initial operational phases and when in close proximity to the site itself.

"The loss of countryside and replacement with housing development cannot be mitigated."

But, the report said the applicant showed "a clear commitment to delivering a landscape-led development that appropriately balances the need to deliver housing alongside important environmental, social and landscape considerations".

It said the development was "an appropriately located and scaled proposal that would appear as a comfortable addition to the village peripheries".

"Furthermore, it is concluded that harm to the landscape, is capable of being minimised to an acceptable level through embedded design measures.

"As such, over time and once the development has become established, the proposal would result in a lessened impact to the character and appearance of the surrounding landscape.

"The proposal would also result in the loss of territory utilised by Lapwing, a bird species which is in decline and which features on the UK Red List for Birds of Conservation Concern.

"This loss cannot be mitigated, such as through replacement habitat within the development site.

"This is a harmful impact resulting from the development which weighs negatively against the proposal, even though this habitat may be inadvertently lost in any event through standard agricultural practices.

"However, the development also has the capability of providing significant enhancements for a variety of other bird species and biodiversity in general."

Letters received by the council object on varying grounds, including that "development such as this should be directed towards brownfield sites, rather than developing open countryside", "there is no need for additional housing in this area, and existing allocations have already been made for housing in other areas", "development of the site would result in the loss of openness and the loss of ‘Lapwing Fields’", "the development would harm the nature and character of the area", "there are already road safety issues, including danger along the A6 due to speeding", "the development will result in the loss of privacy and overlooking for neighbouring properties", "the development will result in the loss of mature trees and hedgerows", "the development will harm wildlife including protected species and red listed species including lapwings" and "the proposal will increase pressure on existing drainage infrastructure".

There have also been objections from Bolton-le-Sands Parish Council, Slyne with Hest Parish Council, Lancaster Civic Vision and the Dynamo Cycle Campaign.

The County Highways Authority, the Lead Local Flood Authority and the Conservation Officer have no objections to the scheme.

In July 2025, members of 'The Friends of Lapwing Fields' handed a petition to Lancaster City Council against the plans.

Then in November, residents Lesley Bryan and Diane Archbold, and David Morris, former MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, presented three petitions signed by 2,734 people at the official London residence of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

The petitions all asked for the land between Slyne and Bolton le Sands to be retained as green belt and to remain undeveloped.

Council officers have recommended the scheme be approved subject to conditions and a legal agreement being signed with the developer to secure affordable housing, green space on site, a play area, on-site Biodiversity Net Gain, a travel plan contribution of £12,000 and a highways contribution of £1099.85 per dwelling towards transport and travel schemes on the A6 and around the M6 junction 34.

The Lancaster City Council planning regulatory committee meeting will start at 10.30am on February 16.

Read more: Protest against new homes on green belt near A6 reaches 10 Downing Street - Beyond Radio

INTERVIEW: Residents step up campaign against new homes on Green Belt near A6 - Beyond Radio