Reclassify Bailey’s Field, Darwen, Lancs as Greenbelt Land
Reclassify Bailey’s Field, Darwen, Lancs as Greenbelt Land
The Issue
The Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council area had the following statistics in 2019:
-It was listed as the 14th most deprived area in the country
-Gross disposable income was lower than the national average
-Life expectancy- on average- was lower than the England average
-2717 dwellings (4.4%) were classified as empty, within the council area
Sources for these are from:
You might therefore be asking this: what has this got to do with a field being built on?
Firstly, building on leisure land- such as fields- will have a negative impact on health. Why? Because it will mean a reduction in areas for people to exercise. What’s the result of this? Poor health will increase the pressure on local health services, but also cause a fall in life expectancy.
In addition to this, gross disposable income (within Blackburn with Darwen) is far lower than that of the UK average. How- in a relatively poor area- does the local council expect its residents to afford mortgages on brand new housing? Surely, encouraging residents to move to an area such as this, is only going to make them less well off?
Furthermore, why is the borough open to more housing when 2717 properties were classified as empty, only recently (in 2019)? How can the council justify increasing the total number of houses in the area, when so many are already empty? Should those empty dwellings not be being filled before more are built?
These are major concerns which need to be addressed before further leisure land is taken away from the town. This is even before the environmental impact has been considered (there are regular sightings of bats and deer, in the field) . We therefore call on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to suspend the full development of Bailey’s Field and reclassify it all as greenbelt land.
Page 5 of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s planning document shows the scale of the plan: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/pdfs/Ellison%20Fold%20Way%20Phase%201%20Marketing%20Particulars-Dec-2019_0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1TEAOPzsKMF7vTHfM4Po8CtcwTbRxZ5Lk0SSed3Tgh2vG45gXeNW2eVK0
1,390
The Issue
The Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council area had the following statistics in 2019:
-It was listed as the 14th most deprived area in the country
-Gross disposable income was lower than the national average
-Life expectancy- on average- was lower than the England average
-2717 dwellings (4.4%) were classified as empty, within the council area
Sources for these are from:
You might therefore be asking this: what has this got to do with a field being built on?
Firstly, building on leisure land- such as fields- will have a negative impact on health. Why? Because it will mean a reduction in areas for people to exercise. What’s the result of this? Poor health will increase the pressure on local health services, but also cause a fall in life expectancy.
In addition to this, gross disposable income (within Blackburn with Darwen) is far lower than that of the UK average. How- in a relatively poor area- does the local council expect its residents to afford mortgages on brand new housing? Surely, encouraging residents to move to an area such as this, is only going to make them less well off?
Furthermore, why is the borough open to more housing when 2717 properties were classified as empty, only recently (in 2019)? How can the council justify increasing the total number of houses in the area, when so many are already empty? Should those empty dwellings not be being filled before more are built?
These are major concerns which need to be addressed before further leisure land is taken away from the town. This is even before the environmental impact has been considered (there are regular sightings of bats and deer, in the field) . We therefore call on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to suspend the full development of Bailey’s Field and reclassify it all as greenbelt land.
Page 5 of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s planning document shows the scale of the plan: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/pdfs/Ellison%20Fold%20Way%20Phase%201%20Marketing%20Particulars-Dec-2019_0.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1TEAOPzsKMF7vTHfM4Po8CtcwTbRxZ5Lk0SSed3Tgh2vG45gXeNW2eVK0
1,390
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Petition created on 19 February 2021