1. If the housing on Daub Hall Lane is approved it will open the floodgates for other housing opportunities around the village.

This is simply not true. Both the villages of and are protected by statutory Green Belt in Borough Council’s adopted Local Plan. Government policy on protection for the Green Belt is set out specifically in chapter 9 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). The fundamental aim of Green Belt policy is to prevent urban sprawl by keeping land permanently open. The NPPF states that that the construction of new buildings should be regarded as “inappropriate” for the Green Belt, although there are some exceptions, which are listed. Neither the site of the new community centre (including the football and cricket pitches and children’s play areas) nor the proposed housing land are designated as being within Green Belt. Both have site-specific policies attributed to them by South Ribble, which will be addressed as part of any future planning application. The site proposed for housing is not Green Belt and although it is Protected Open Land this does not provide the same level of protection as Green Belt and allows the local authority to consider whether there are other benefits which outweigh the planning policy.

2. There will be a dramatic increase in traffic.

Inevitably, there will be some additional traffic generated by both schemes but it is not necessarily dramatic. Any proposals of this type are required to have traffic impact assessments prepared as part of the planning application process. These assessments are carefully scrutinised by County Council Highways Department who will advise South Ribble on whether the traffic generated is within acceptable standards for the existing network. They will also identify if any works are required to mitigate that impact and any such works will then have to be undertaken by the developer. However to put this into context, in the 2011 census the population of Coupe Green and Gregson Lane was 3,372. The new dwellings could potentially provide housing for about 150-175 people representing only a 4-5% increase and a commensurate increase in cars. Such an increase in unlikely to have any significant impact upon existing levels of traffic.

3. The three existing primary schools in Gregson Lane and Coupe Green are already over-subscribed.

The latest Schools Capacity publication by Lancashire County Council indicates an 11% surplus of capacity at Coupe Green Primary School, 4% at Brindle Gregson Lane and 19% at St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School. In addition, there was 22% capacity at Walton le Dale High School. This equates to 46 primary school places and 179 secondary school places. This would be more than enough for a development of this scale.

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4. The proposal is just a front for others to make huge amounts of money.

The proposals for the new community centre would not be possible without the generous offer from the landowner who has resisted all previous offers from developers to buy the land. The community centre is costly and without this magnanimous gesture would not be delivered in the short to medium term. The landowner will benefit from the sale of the land, but at a fraction of the normal value for development land and the developer will make no more than a reasonable return from their scheme. The Gregson Green community benefit from a new facility, which is privately funded without grant assistance or public subsidy. South Ribble Council will benefit from the CIL money that is generated and additional revenue from council tax on new home occupiers.

5. The estimated cost of the proposed new community centre at over £1m appears excessive.

The proposed new community centre has a gross internal floor area of over 400m2. It is a single storey building and is heavily “serviced” incorporating changing rooms and toilet facilities, all of which makes it relatively expensive to construct. The estimated overall cost includes the following: • Demolition of the existing community centre. • Extensive external works including new car parking and soft landscaping. • Incoming mains services supplies. • Drainage. • Professional fees. • VAT on the cost of the changing facilities and on professional fees. • An allowance for increased costs between now and when it is actually built. At this stage, the cost of over £1m is an estimate, prepared by a local professional quantity surveying firm and will be subject to review as the design develops. Ultimately, the final cost will be dictated by market conditions when the construction works are competitively tendered to a select list of contractors.

6. Could the size of the proposed community centre be reduced and made more affordable to enable it to be funded from what has been raised to date and exactly how much has been raised to date?

To date, approximately £120,000 has been raised with additional monies pledged by the local authority. The size of the hall within the proposed new community centre is not much larger than the existing one. Whilst the existing facility has served the community well since it was built in the sixties, it has unfortunately come to the end of its days. To replace the existing facility and to ensure longevity it needs to be of more robust construction and comply with current Building Regulations. The existing storage and changing facilities are currently scattered around the site and are extremely unsightly. These facilities will be incorporated within the proposed new building together with a disabled changing room, a kitchen with servery and toilets. Importantly, the new centre will be more accessible for the disabled.

7. Have other ways of funding the community centre been explored?

Most initiatives have been explored particularly grant funding. It became apparent that major grant funding is only available to projects in more economically challenged areas and unfortunately our community does not qualify. This was the conclusion of a specialist grant consultant employed specifically to explore grant funding opportunities. A benefactor has been found (in the form of Jennifer Turner) but so far no other party has offered to make the required cash donation.

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8. "Who are the professional team behind the proposals and exactly what is their role?".

Three firms have pooled their resources to promote the project, which involves linking the new Community Centre to a proposed residential development on the land off Daub Hall Lane owned by Jennifer Turner. Thornber & Walker (Stuart Cross) have been the lead on the project and acted as Project Manager and Cost Consultant for the new Community Centre; Eckersley (Andy Taylorson) have been responsible for the viability appraisals, structuring the likely agreement with a housing developer and assisting in the project management and finally Cassidy & Ashton (Alban Cassidy and Alistair Baines) have been responsible for the designs of the proposed new Community Centre and acting as the planning consultants with a view to securing planning permission for the project as a whole. The considerable work time involved to date by all three firms has been undertaken at risk and they have also funded a number of surveys which have been commissioned to support the project. If the project is successful, then the costs associated with their participation will be paid out of the development proceeds associated with a future land sale of the Daub Hall Lane site.

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