Crimble Mill Development Proposal - Planning Meeting Aug 2023

A Planning Application for the Development at Crimble Mill went to the Planning & Licensing Committee in August 2023. The full report can be found by clicking here. 

As soon as we received notification of this we wrote off to all the Councillors in West and North Heywood, Bamford and Norden. 

We then followed this up with an email to all the Councillors who sit on the Planning & Licensing Committee, as unfortunately none of the committee could make the meeting on the 24/8/23 due to being away (we were only notified about the meeting 7 days before it occurred and being just before the Bank Holiday it is highly expected a large number of people would be on holiday. 

Our emails sent on the 17/8/23 and 20/8/23 are as follows. 

Email sent on 17/8/23 to all Councillors in Neighbouring Wards

Good Afternoon 

I am dropping you a line as we have received notification that the above meeting is on Thursday 24th August,  6pm at Riverside. Unfortunately due to prior commitments none of our 3 committee members are able to attend.

I know Public Rights Of Way are very close to your hearts and hope you and fellow councillors  will do all you can to ensure that the Bridleways down there do not become roads to the building site, before, during and after the work is done, if planning is allowed.

Obviously those Bridleways would be unsafe to use if they are used as access and the Bridleway from the mill up to Bury Road cannot be moved due to the topography of the land. 

If planning permission is granted, we would want to see some very strong planning conditions put into place and enforced which will ensure the safety of legitimate PROW users at all times. 

We are willing to discuss this in depth but unfortunately are not available until after the Bank Holiday. We have though attached our letter of response sent in to planning in February 2023 which should help you understand our concerns.

Kind regards

Pat Tough

Chair of NBH Bridleways Association.

Email sent on 20/8/23 to all Councillors who sit on the Planning & Licensing Committee

We are extremely concerned about the contents of the report regarding Planning Application 22/00588/FUL due to be considered at the Planning Meeting on Thursday 24th August 2023, namely paragraphs 111 to 114. 

The notification of this planning meeting was only received on the 18th August 2023, less than 7 days before the meeting, in a period of high holidays. Unfortunately all our committee members are away or have prior commitments and so cannot attend the meeting, despite it being of considerable concern to the local equestrian population. Due to us being unable to attend in person we would very much appreciate if, in your deliberations, you would take cognisance of the following points 

• Why has the consultation regarding the proposal only been discussed with Highways and not with the Rights of Way Officer who has a much clearer understanding of the needs of PROW users?

• Why is the safety of the existing PROW users being discounted? The provision of horse friendly surfaces as specified by the British Horse Society does nothing to address the danger posed by large volumes of traffic using a quiet existing PROW.

• The report makes no mention of the proposal we have made to alleviate the issues, ie application for a permanent diversion of the PROW to a new route in the adjacent land thus removing the PROW users from the narrow road allowing for the increased traffic but still allowing PROW users to use the route in safety. The new PROW could join HeyBP59 west of the bridge over the River Roch, meaning horses would only meet the new traffic from the development on the Bridge (horses turning Right before getting onto to the redirected PROW whilst traffic would turn left)

• The improved access for Pedestrians and Cyclists in the area completely ignores the Equestrian Community who are also legitimate users of the current quiet rural network of PROWs. Why is such a large legitimate community being totally disregarded.

• There is no mention in the report of how anti social use of the PROWs by trials bikes and quads will be inhibited. 

• The PROW to the North of the site up to Bury Road is narrow, privately owned and not a public highway. It is totally unsuitable for additional vehicular traffic and hence specific conditions should be attached to the planning consent to prohibit its use by this development. This was discussed at the Places for Everyone Enquiry and agreed that, due to its topography, there was no possibility of upgrading this route.

It would be very much appreciated if you could take the above points into consideration when you are considering this application. Surely these points should be part of conditions attached to any planning consent? All of these conditions should also be ensured to be in place before any further development on the site is allowed to protect all vulnerable users of the PROW>

Kind regards

Pat Tough

Chair of NBH Bridleways Association