Price £1.00 to non-residents APRIL 2018 ISSUE 106 OVER KELLET VIEW Our cover photo shows a tree adjacent to a footpath within the main village area – can you find it? Answer next month… (photo: Grace Meaden) Editorial Board: Peter Clinch, Paul Budd, Jane Meaden (Advertising) BOARD OF MANAGEMENT Chairs of the Parish Council and Parochial Church Council We are grateful to the above organisations for their financial support HOW TO PREPARE A CONTRIBUTION We are happy to receive electronic, typed, and legible hand-written contributions. Electronic text contributions should ideally be in Microsoft Word .doc format, but we can accept most other formats. Please set the page size to A4 with 1.5cm margins, and use 14pt Arial font. Photos and illustrations should be under 1mb in size and sent as separate files, NOT embedded. Advertisements should be compatible with Microsoft Publisher software – .jpg format is ideal. Please telephone if you need help or advice: Peter (734591), Paul (732617), Jane (732456). WHERE TO SEND IT Hard-copy contributions should be sent to The Editors, c/o Tree Tops, Moor Close Lane, Over Kellet, LA6 1DF; electronic ones to the e-mail address [email protected] DEADLINE For each issue the closing date for contributions is the fifteenth of the previous month. DISCLAIMER The views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors, not necessarily those of the Editorial and/or Management Board. Every care is taken to provide accurate information, particularly in the Village Listings, Directory and Local Services. We apologise for any errors and would be pleased to have them pointed out to us. Over Kellet View is published monthly except for January and August; it is distributed to all homes within the parish of Over Kellet and is available for purchase at the Village Store. Each issue can also be seen in a colour version on the Over Kellet village website www.overkellet.org We are grateful to Gordon Galloway, the webmaster, for his expert help. ©2018 Over Kellet View, Tree Tops, Moor Close Lane [email protected] Find us on overkelletview Printed by Bay Typesetters, Morecambe Tel: 01524 850056, 07710 405864 [email protected] 2 The April View Since 2014 outline planning consent has been given for 15 houses with access off Greenways, and 55 in the fields behind Old Hall Farm. Together these and other permitted developments would increase the population of the village by between a quarter and a third. Some residents have re- ceived details of a newly proposed planning applica- tion by Armer Homes for land to the north of Kirkby Lonsdale Road (KLR) and east of Winder Garth. Comments were required by 18th March, too late for us to alert you via OK View. To help inform all residents, this Editorial compares the proposals with a previous planning application for the same site that was with- drawn in 2014. At the time of writing the new proposal Part of the site of the proposed Armer Homes development has yet to be submitted to from the south-west corner with Hoggets Lane Farm on the Lancaster City Council. horizon (photo: Peter Clinch) The following list compares the 2014 application for the KLR site, and the concerns raised then, with the new proposals and circumstances: a) 2014: seventy-two houses considered excessive given the size of the village. Up to twenty-nine to be affordable, but no definite commitment made. 2018: forty-five dwellings in a mix of houses, bungalows and apartments; up to 45% affordable; no definite commitment. b) 2014: the development would create increased traffic. It could compromise road safety because of the lack of adequate pavements at the east end of the village and the siting of the access to/from the site onto KLR. 2018: access point in a different position although still on a curve of the downhill section of KLR, shortly after the 30mph sign. The potential for a ‘refuge’ for a school pick up/drop off point, and for an ‘uncontrolled’ road crossing with dropped kerbs on both sides of KLR, are shown at the west end of the site. c) 2014: there are poor public transport services in the village and none along KLR. 2018: the frequency of the Lancaster to Carnforth bus service through the village has been drastically reduced since 2014. d) 2014: the primary school is already at capacity. 2018: this is still the case. e) 2014: the surface-water drainage system is at capacity and the KLR area floods. 2018: surface water will be collected in an open ‘infiltration basin’ at the west (lowest) end of the site, by Moor Close Lane; no information given about where the water will drain to. All driveways will be constructed with partially permeable block 3 The April View Part of the proposed Armer Homes development site from the south seen from Kirkby Lonsdale Road (photo: Peter Clinch) paving to help drainage. Foul water will discharge into the existing public sewer along KLR. f) 2014: insufficient regard paid to the ecology of the area. 2018: the proposal does not address the impact it would have on the local ecology. g) 2014: there would be a loss of grazing space and an impact on local farming jobs. 2018: this is still the case. h) 2014: insufficient regard paid to the plan’s visual impact on the landscape. 2018: lower density of housing with public open spaces is planned Part of the proposed development site from the south-east throughout the site, with seen from the track to Hoggets Lane Farm (photo: Peter Clinch) features to ameliorate its visual impact both generally and on neighbouring properties. Once a formal planning application has been made and is being considered by your Parish Council and Lancaster City Council, please take the opportuni- ty to make your views known. Jane Meaden 4 Towards A New Parish Plan For Over Kellet At the open meeting held by the Parish Council on 6th February to discuss whether a Neighbourhood Plan should be produced for the village, it was agreed that the first step should be to update the Parish Plan from 2008. Further thought could then be given as to whether to undertake the considerable amount of work that would be required to upgrade this to a Neighbourhood Plan. The first meeting of the newly formed planning group took place on 6th March, when four parish councillors were joined by a further six residents. It was agreed that the plan should cover the whole parish, including Capernwray and Swarthdale, and not just the village itself. Although housing development would be a part of it, there are many other aspects which affect the quality of life here and which will need to be considered. It was agreed that the Parish Plan would apply to the period 2019 to 2023 and, in order to gather evidence, it would be necessary to design and distribute a questionnaire to all residents in the parish. Although the planning group appreciates that completing a questionnaire is not everyone’s favourite occupation, to produce a useful plan to govern the future shape of the village it is important that as many residents as possible have their say on how they wish to see things develop. The questionnaire will be distributed with the June issue of Over Kellet View; further information will appear in next month’s magazine. It is hoped that the Parish Plan will be published by the end of this year. Nick Ward, Chairman, Over Kellet Parish Council 5 Church News At the beginning of March Over Kellet joined a wave of prayer encircling the globe, when the Village Hall hosted the local 2018 Women’s World Day of Prayer. The worship service was written on the theme ‘All God’s creation is very good’ by the women of Suriname, translated into 60 languages and 1,000 dialects, and held in 170 countries and islands. In the UK over 6,000 services took place, although some had to be cancelled because of adverse weather. Our service was well attended and made us think seriously about what we have done to God’s creation. In addition to praying that we become better stewards, there was also an opportunity for each person present to make a commitment to doing one practical thing to preserve the beautiful world in which we live. Wisdom and courage were sought to respond to God’s call for climate justice. Donations raised £135 for the work of the WWDP and projects run by Christian charities worldwide. Work to carry out some major upgrades to St Cuthbert’s Church has been possible thanks to generous legacies. We now have a new kitchen; major repairs to and restoration of damaged church windows are complete; and new carpets have been fitted in the aisles. It is hoped that it will also be possible to upgrade the church lighting this year. In addition to these generous financial gifts we are indebted to the individuals who have taken on an additional burden of work to improve the fabric and furnishings of our ancient church, a living witness to over 1,000 years of prayer and worship in the local community. While we continue to wait patiently for the appointment of our new Vicar (to be shared with the parish of St Paul’s Caton with Littledale), we were pleased to learn that the next Anglican Suffragan Bishop of Lancaster (to succeed Rt Rev Geoff Pearson) will be Rev Dr Jill Duff. She is passionate about planting new congregations and creating confident Christian witnesses who can become ‘beacons’ in their communities.