17 July 2023 What is next for CLOUD?

‘SUSPENSION’ OF M6 LINK ROADS & BAILRIGG GARDEN VILLAGE

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN AND WHAT NEXT?

• Introduction : Keep right on to the end of the road?

The CLOUD Newsflash on 15th June 2023 reported the news that Lancashire County Council had suspended the planned link road from the M6 at/near J33 to the proposed Bailrigg Garden Village (BGV) site. Significantly, Lancashire County Council has returned the £140M central government funding contribution towards its (2019 based) estimated total cost of £261M. This Newsbrief attempts to answer questions about What Next? and also looks back at CLOUD’s 6 year campaign against the road link and BGV.

• Where Are We Now?

The Lancashire County Council press release stated that the M6 link road had been “suspended” and crucially that government funding (£140M from Homes England’s Housing Infrastructure Fund - HIF) had been returned. The press release also stated that Homes England would continue to work with Lancaster City Council on housing matters but “outside of HIF” - so it seems pretty clear that the HIF money has gone for good and with it the very expensive road link and railway underpass needed to secure access into the BGV site. “Suspended” is a strange and confusing choice of words in these circumstances - perhaps a face saving expression? Even with HIF funding, the viability of the road link was suspect from the outset with the contrived figure of 9185 houses and the woefully optimistic (and possibly illegal) roof tax. Now with high and ongoing inflation and no HIF funding, the road and railway underpass are definitely unaffordable.

Remember the May 2023 City Council election statements from south Lancaster candidates? - circulated in Newsbrief no 101 All parties except Labour opposed the road and even Labour has now seen the light and changed its mind. For the first time in CLOUD’s history the majority of political parties on the City Council are against the link road and BGV.

As our Chair, Tom Wilkinson, put it “This announcement is wonderful news and a testament to all the hard work you have all put into , if not quite killing off, mortally wounding the whole stupid plan.”

• What Next?

CLOUD Management Committee met on 28th June to celebrate and to decide on our next steps. We decided to keep CLOUD in operation :

• to consider and respond to whatever plans emerge in place of BGV.

• to promote and encourage a move to truly meaningful consultation with local residents on planning applications and development plans.

• to encourage cooperation and dialogue between districts to ensure Neighbourhood Plans do not create issues for neighbouring wards.

• to support genuinely sustainable, small-scale development which is not car dependent, has Passivhaus design, and uses renewable energy. This is along the lines of Halton Co-housing as supported by SLICE.

• to press for a review of the Local Plan and its underlying housing need numbers and to challenge other ‘unnecessary’ housing etc developments.

• to oppose housing developments which threaten flooding of existing communities or fail to address the climate emergency.

• to press for an independent inquiry into the whole BGV “fiasco” - what it has cost City and County Councils to date, how the scheme reached such a late stage before being withdrawn etc.

Housing developments will of course proceed in Lancaster and are needed - especially affordable housing. It also looks as though the Lancaster South Area Action Plan will proceed, but without BGV. CLOUD’s next AGM will take place in October this year and at that time we may have a clearer idea of what the City and County Councils are proposing to do next.

• CLOUD’s Campaign Since 2017

It has been a long and frustrating 6 years from the inaugural CLOUD meeting in the Cobblers Suite at the Boot & Shoe. This would become an even longer Newsbrief if we attempted to list all our activities and campaigning here - so we have summarised in the CLOUD History video below. In summary we have addressed several City Council meetings, issued 104 Newsbriefs to date, posted flyers through letterboxes across south Lancaster, submitted countless objections to the Local Plan, and been involved with petitions to Council. We also raised significant funds for the preparation of a report on housing need numbers and attendance of our expert witness at the Local Plan public hearings. The CLOUD Management Committee would like to thank all members for their unwavering support - despite the setbacks and frustration - and for their financial contributions.

To see what CLOUD did in the last 6 years please click on link to video clip CLOUD history (suggest viewing full screen)

• Your Comments and Suggestions

Please let us have your comments and suggestions for how we take CLOUD forward from here.

Tony and Mary Breakell on behalf of the CLOUD MANAGEMENT TEAM