Proposed housing developments in Formby

RESIDENTS in Altcar Lane contacted us over 2 weeks back about a planning application that has been submitted to Sefton Council, by Morris Homes (Ref:- DC/2018/00020 ) to build 24 dwellings on farmland opposite 34 to 70 Altcar Lane. We contacted the builders, Morris Homes, about the plans, but have not been able to get anyone to send any comments about the issues residents have highlighted. We are going to try  1 last time, before publishing the full report. In Formby we have seen an increasing intention to build new homes on what is farmland, as highlighted by the rejection in 2014, to build 90 new dwellings on the land at Altcar Lane. (BC/2014/01833) Residents throughout Formby have been telling us that they are extremely concerned by this increase of interest considering Formby has a serious lack of infrastructure to cope with any more increases in population. With regards to Morris Homes application, we were told that the affected residents on the road have had very little information about it and some of those who will be affected have said that they have not even been contacted via letter! If you want to see the plans you can do so via Sefton Council's website and you can also put your comments down on it. We will again try and get a comment from Morris Homes, to get their views, as sometimes issues can easily be resolved through normal conversation.

A resident who does not want to be identified at this point, but lives on the road said:- "Formby really does need low cost housing. I agree it needs to be built, somehow, but from what we can see on these plans indicate a few homes indicated and marked as 'affordable.' Also, it's all very well building so called 'affordable' homes, but what about the lack of infrastructure within the area? The fact is, even if affordable homes are built, the drainage systems and local amenities, like the doctors, Schools and roads cannot take any more. No matter what the documents says, at this stage, the reality on the ground, day to day is, Formby is losing its ability to function. The other issue we are very worried about is the increasing risk of flooding and overloading of the land. The more homes built, the more weight put on the land and with the prospect of fracking looming, we could easily seeing more sink holes forming, already we have had one of our main roads closed for a few weeks due to a sink hole. The increasing traffic issues on our small village roads is also highlighted. Until recently we have never had the volumes of traffic we are now seeing, unless it was a Bank Holiday. But how this fits in with this build is our road exits on to 1 of only 3 main roads out. It's extremely narrow and traffic is already a major safety issue, due to the building of more homes just a few roads down. The result is getting in our out of our road can be extremely problematic, especially in mornings. With more homes comes more cars, more danger and more pressure on our junctions!"

If anyone has any views, for or against, please let us know, via posting on our Formby Reporter Facebook Page or emailing us at: - News24@SouthportReporter.Com with your thoughts on this planning application. We will, so please let us know if you want your name to be included or not, or if you want or do not want to be quoted, when contacting us, in connection to this matter.