Nursery extension would affect neighbourhood

I would like to draw attention to a planning application made by Lancashire County Council to construct a large building within the grounds of Rockwood Nursery, just off Todmorden Road in Burnley, to extend the operation of the Teddy’s Club.

The original letter notifying residents was apparently prepared on February 26th, giving 21 days to respond with objections, but myself and at least one other did not get the letter - I found out by accident on March 8th. The public notice that should be affixed in a public place is on the nursery inner gate where the public can’t see it.

The proposed site lies in Burnley Wood conservation area and, despite what the application says, it will affect trees near the site as well as adversely affecting the neighbourhood - I lodged a complaint with Burnley Council regarding traffic congestion and noise already generated by this business, however, unfortunately they failed completely to act on this complaint properly as set out in the Environmental Act 1990 which places an obligation on local councils to deal with such complaints - they insist that up to seven hours a day of two-year-olds at play with no volume control is not a ‘statutory nuisance’ - yet not one of the investigating officers came here to listen to, measure or record the noise.

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Traffic here is already bad, as it is at most schools, but the site is at the end of a cul-de-sac that has already caused police involvement on many occasions. My complaint was made in July 2013 and is not over - yet Lancs County is spending public money on preparing and making this application. Am I to assume then the result of the further action I’m taking to have this disturbance abated has already been decided?

So, here we have a situation where, with little regard to the wishes of Burnley folk, Lancs County plans on pushing ahead with modifications to a Grade II listed building in a conservation area – a decision that will be made not by Burnley planning department but by Lancs County.

I would suggest that if you or I tried a stunt like this, setting up a noisy business in a residential area, we would be closed down in short order - it doesn’t take long trawling through the planning register to find applications that have been rejected just on grounds of traffic or noise. Look up the application by typing: LCC/2014/0034/ASP/CL

Peter Cavaney

Burnley