New cricket ground and industrial estate in South Ribble could both hinge on what councillors think after site visits

Lancashire County Council’s development control committee briefly considered plans for a new ground for Lancashire Cricket in Farington and a huge logistics, retail and residential scheme on nearby land in Cuerden.

However, the authority's planning officers recommended that committee members take a trip to see the locations for themselves ahead of determining the two applications, both of which have attracted some local opposition.

The Curden site - east of Stanifield Lane and close to where the M6 and M65 motorways meet - was once earmarked for a largely retail-led development with a new Ikea store at its heart. But it is now the focus of a proposal which would see the creation of a logistics and distribution hub, along with research and development facilities and office space. A foodstore, eateries, leisure centre, crèche and car showroom are also planned for the development, along with 116 new homes.

As the Post revealed last month, National Highways - the organisation responsible for the strategic road network in England - has, in any event, requested that no decision is taken on the proposal until the end of the year, because it wants more information about the potential impact of the plans on motorway junctions in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, the cricket facility - proposed for land at the Woodcock estate, also off Stanifield Lane - would feature two full-sized cricket ovals, a two-storey pavilion building and car parks providing a total of 500 spaces.

It would operate all year round, hosting a number of men’s and women’s competitive matches each year and acting as an alternative to Emirates Old Trafford - whilst also providing a new training base for Lancashire’s men’s and women’s teams.

Both proposals have been brought forward by the county council itself - but the authority’s cross-party, quasi-judicial development control committee will adjudicate on them independently, at a date to be decided after the site visits have taken place.

On the Cuerden proposal, committee member Steve Holgate raised concerns about the greening plans for the plot, which were sketched out in a presentation slide during the meeting at which the visits were approved.

Stressing that he was not expressing opposition to the application, Cllr Holgate said: “When I look at the landscaping…I’m particularly underwhelmed given that [the site] is in the countryside; I would have thought that some kind of wildlife corridor ought to be created.

“To be honest, I think this is just a cosmetic thing to make it look rather pretty for us humans rather than [as] any affiliation or association with preserving nature in an area that we are clearly intruding into for human purposes, which is fine and understandable - [I’m] not opposed to it,” County Cllr Holgate said.

He added that a trip to the site would give him and his colleagues a “better understanding of…the environmental pluses that are obliged to be created when moving into…greenfield sites”.

The Limit Cuerden campaign group told the Post that they hoped the committee would take into account feedback that the road network surrounding the site is “not suitable for the traffic”.

" How can they approve plans for the site when the vision for it is so vague? The developers have no tenants signed up. Saying yes to some low-level offices is different to big logistics warehouses.

"Any warehouses will bring with them hundreds of polluting diesel lorries, they [will] increase the congestion and impact the health of locals in Lostock Hall, Cuerden and Leyland. It’s a massive site with no real plan.”

Meanwhile, some residents living close to the proposed new cricket ground have also outlined fears over the potential for noise, disturbance and a loss of privacy as a result of the development.