Burscough residents reject proposal for 600 new houses in the village

Jun 23 2011 by Gemma Jaleel, Ormskirk Advertiser

COUNCIL plans for 600 new homes in Burscough were firmly rejected by the community at a heated public meeting.

Nearly 200 people turned out to tell Burscough Parish Council they were against any proposal to build new homes – fearing Burscough would lose its identity as a village.

The parish council called the meeting to gauge opinion on the local development framework proposals to build 4,500 new homes and 87 hectares of employment land across West Lancashire over the next 15 years.

The public only have until the end of tomorrow (Friday) to submit their views on the different options.

Option 1 is a plan to build 600 new homes and 10 hectares for employment on Yew Tree Farm on Higgins Lane.

This also includes a new park, a primary school, shops, community centre; plus measures to improve drainage and traffic on Liverpool Road South, health care facilities and public transport.

Option 2 is to build 300 new homes on the same site in Burscough and disperse the rest through Banks and the northern parishes of Ormskirk.

But residents expressed strong doubts over the proposed improvements being delivered to the area’s already swamped infrastructure including traffic on the village’s main road, the A59.

Jean Pritchard, who lives on Higgins Lane, said: “The traffic is already bumper to bumper most days.”

Another man added: “It only takes a lorry parked outside Bargain Booze on Liverpool Road South and the whole village comes to a halt.

“Today, most people have two cars per home so it will bring more cars into the village. Also, the Ormskirk plan was rejected because of the impact on the green belt, but the same applies here.”