CLOUD NEWSBRIEF No 85
4 August 2021
The CLOUD Newsflash issued on 4th August alerted members to the briefing and discussion sessions announced by Lancaster City Council on South Lancaster Housing and Transport. Here again are the links to these sessions. We encourage all CLOUD members to join one or other to hear what is being proposed and to raise whatever issues concern you.
Thursday 5 August 1700-1800
Wednesday 11 August 17.00 -1800
While we don’t know anything of the content of the briefing, this is clearly an important and potentially informative meeting. Previous CLOUD Newsbriefs have detailed our concerns and many CLOUD members have already written to their City Councillors about this. Hopefully the discussion part of these sessions will provide answers to some of our questions and concerns.
The last 2 Newsbriefs detailed our main objections. Here for convenience are links to them [Newsbrief 83 and Newsbrief 84]. There are really 4 key issues :
The figure of 9185 houses for the South Lancaster Growth Catalyst : How can this number be justified - 30,000 new inhabitants in a city of just 53,000? Where are all these houses going to be built? What about the provision of schools, health services, cultural facilities etc? Where are all these people going to work (or will this be a commuter town)?
The cost of the M6 link roads to Bailrigg Garden Village : How robust are the estimates for this work, given that road schemes almost always suffer cost escalation - eg Bay Gateway initial estimate £60M, but outturn £140M? Has Network Rail agreed to the disruption which would be involved in constructing the underpass under the West Coast Mainline? Who is liable for any cost overruns?
Developer Contributions : The South Lancaster Growth Catalyst assumes that housing developers will contribute nearly £100M to the infrastructure costs of Bailrigg Garden Village. Is this a realistic target? Who is liable for any shortfall in developer contributions?
Climate Emergency : How is the construction of Bailrigg Garden Village and its associated road network compatible with the City Council’s Climate Emergency declaration? What assessment has been made of the environmental impact of such a huge build on a greenfield site? Has the South Lancaster Growth Catalyst been evaluated by the Council’s Climate Change Peoples’ Jury?
You might also like to refer to the concerns raised by some of Lancaster’s retired GPs about the consequences of South Lancaster Growth for the future of healthcare in the district - See Lancaster Guardian article for details