noblueroute

How taking a concrete monstrosity such as a 4 mile highway through an area of greenbelt (and close to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) can be deemed to be in line with the Pendle Council’s Core Strategy is certainly a mystery. The light pollution and noise will be extremely detrimental to the quiet enjoyment expected of the residents in Higherford and Barrowford. Furthermore, Councillor Cooney repeatedly stated on 26th November 2013 that this is “more than just a road” and the 10% cost (on >£35m plus/minus 40% BEFORE land assembly costs through Compulsory Purchase powers) payable by Pendle will have to be self-funding meaning more development close to the conurbations of Colne/Foulridge (residential and/or business parks) which will simply compound the current traffic movements. It is interesting to note that our current 2x business parks in Barrowford remain under occupied, so why do need a 3rd ? We do not want additional housing in this greenbelt location (also in breach of Pendle’s current Housing Strategy) especially as there are no local schools in close proximity coupled with poor amenities, as expected in rural settings, and the development simply cannot be within the required 400m of an existing bus stop so will probably be unsustainable for a developer if Pendle has to generate say £5m uplift on the CPO cost to pay their 10% bypass contribution. This proposal is NOT to do with safety – it is to do with congestion – a slow road is a pedestrian and cyclist safe road and we know that driving a car at certain times into any town/city will encounter problems. So after proposing a Colne bypass some 40 years ago and now having traffic count data supplied from locations strategically selected by the appointed professionals showing a 10 year increase being at a MAXIMUM of just +13%, the numbers to support a bypass simply do not stack any more than when this bypass was first declined in the 1970’s. Why does Lancashire Country Council expect the issues that we all face travelling into Colne at peak times to be any different to Burnley/Blackburn/Preston/Wigan/Bolton (and Manchester/London/etc) and potentially losing our glorious greenbelt after we were told that the office based professionals in Preston have not even walked any of the routes is an absolute tragedy. Unfortunately, it looks virtually impossible to resurrect the train line between Colne and Skipton after an absence of 30 years and the practicalities and engineering challenges of getting an electrified train line across North Valley Road (by virtue of a 40 ft bridge or a tunnel ??) will most certainly escalate the costs for the dream possibly to never become a reality (has anybody yet proved that a train line from Colne to Skipton is financially viable ??). I believe that the community should focus on improving the train line from Colne to Preston and, if the majority of the local population still seek a Colne bypass after PROPER CONSULTATION with due notice, promote the red route which has less of an impact to the population in Pendle being more of an environmental fit and less harmful to our abundant wildlife and very enjoyable canal corridor. I understand that our MP for Pendle, Andrew Stevenson, is a Patron of SELRAP – does this throw up a conflict of interest with the red route ?