100 signatures reached
To: South Lakeland District Council Planning Department
South Lakes do not allow planning. Flood risk - Toxic - not affordable
We would like SLDC to carefully consider a planning permission application from a local developer. We don't believe they have truly considered all the evidence we have supplied them with.
The land is toxic and even when cleared we believe water saturation will make it toxic again due to local old landfills. We live in a high risk flood area. We believe this development is putting more homes at risk of flooding.
The application is in breach of the affordable homes quota.
Why is this important?
1. 1800 homes and 500 businesses in Kendal were put under water as a result of the Storm Desmond flooding in December 2015. 400 householders are still to gain entry to their homes nearly a year later.
2. The latest advice from the Environment Agency shows that rainfall could increase by 20% above the levels of Storm Desmond and these events are likely to increase in frequency over the next decade.
3. There is solid evidence to show that the proposed development, on Underbarrow Road in Kendal, places at least 12 homes underneath the development at significant risk from flooding and ground saturation with additional risk to many more along the Blind Beck catchment area and down to the River Kent.
4. Of even more concern is the location of old landfill tips directly above the proposed housing and the presence of carcinogens and toxic chemicals including arsenic and lead on the land. The source of these contaminants has not been determined and the risk of recontamination from the landfills has been disregarded by the planners. Surface and groundwater can and will carry contaminants downhill under force of gravity. 12 new homes are proposed on the contaminated land and many more will be at risk should planning permission be granted. It seems that the developers and our planners are prepared to risk local people's health and well-being in pursuit of nationally imposed housing targets and business profit.
5. Finally, and most telling, population forecasts for South Lakeland clearly show that the only real housing need in the area is for affordable homes. It is shameful, therefore, that the affordable homes quota required by South Lakeland District Council's own policy is being subverted by the developer's submission of a site viability statement. This states that the costs of developing the site mean that the affordable homes built on the site can only be 10, rather than the 17 required by the SLDC policy. This developer, in common with many others in the area, has a track record of not delivering the number of much needed affordable homes. Consequently to maintain that this development is of benefit to the local community is a disingenuous travesty.
6. Please consider signing this position to make our voices heard and to help move localism from rhetoric to reality!
The picture above is water from the blind beck source flooding a road in front of the proposed development site.
