Plans for 86 new homes at former landfill site in Burscough submitted to West Lancashire Council

Feb 28 2013 by Rob Pattinson, Ormskirk Advertiser

PLANS to build 86 homes on a former landfill site in Burscough have been submitted to the council.

Time Token Ltd wants to develop the 4.35 hectare site off Abbey Lane and Liverpool Road South.

The land includes a pond designated as a biological heritage site – land important to nature conservation – by Lancashire County Council and is on the opposite side of Abbey Lane to the Thomas Galvin playing fields.

The site, a former landfill for inert and industrial waste until the late 1990s, has a history of high gas levels and a survey undertaken on behalf of the developer found that “significant concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide gases” were still present.

Recommendations from a geotechnical consultant advised further targeted testing and gas protection methods would need to be put in place to safeguard the development.

It is likely that a package sewage treatment plant would also need to be created on the site to serve the development at a cost of more than £250,000, after concerns from United Utilities that the village’s existing foul drainage infrastructure is unable to take any further substantive flows.

The development would consist of a mix of two, three and four-bed family style homes split into two cul-de-sacs and planning documents state tht the scheme would “make the most of the existing site features with an area of public open space around the existing pond”.

The proposals include the creation of a public footpath through the site, road widening improvements and the relocation of an existing bus stop so that it is next to the site, encouraging the use of public transport.

The site is currently designated as safeguarded land but is earmarked to be brought within the urban area of Burscough in the emerging Local Plan.