Formby residents oppose planning application to build 25 houses and 100 car park spaces on Shorrocks

There is strong opposition from Formby residents to proposed plans to turn former nightclub, Shorrocks Hill into 25 homes along with a 100 space public car park and toilet block for the National Trust.

The nightclub was once one of the biggest in Merseyside and was originally called Falcons Crest. The site closed in 2015 and once offered function suites, restaurants, and bars.

The former Falcon Crest Country Club before it was known as Shorrocks Hill

A Formby resident said: "Do you know that there are plans to build 25 houses on Shorrocks Hill, as well as a car park for 100 cars?"

"Formby residents are well aware of the immense problems we have when day trippers visit in their cars. The appalling congestion we suffer from hundreds of vehicles trying to get as close to the beach as possible and emergency vehicles finding it near impossible getting through when traffic is at its worst."

"Now just imagine how bad it will be with 25 new houses and a car park plus two additional entrances on Lifeboat Road?"

These are the plans that have been submitted to Sefton Council

"There are currently cars, coaches, horse boxes, pedestrians, pushchairs and caravan park residents all trying to get into and out of Lifeboat Road. Did you know that a huge amount of mature trees will also be destroyed? All this in a protected wildlife habitat that includes the endangered red squirrel."

"The bottleneck Formby already suffers from will get much worse and the negative effects do not bear thinking about."

"Do you agree that this is a terrible idea for Formby? Then please submit an objection to Sefton Council Planning department under reference DC/2022/02326. The closing date for objections is 17/2/22 - less than 2 weeks away!"

"Below is some guidance on how to do this. Please feel free to use the content should you wish, but please adapt it to suit your own style."

"Would you also be prepared to sign a petition? For every 25 signatures, a named petitioner will be able to raise their objections to the planning committee. All adults in a household can sign. The more that sign the better."

"Please consider starting a petition off with your friends and neighbours. Or knock on doors asking for signatures. Please contact Formby Bubble and someone will be in touch to drop a petition off to you."

"We have less than two weeks to object. Together we can help prevent the chaos this development would cause to residents, visitors and wildlife."

"PLEASE MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD - NOW!"

This letter has been submitted as an objection by a neighbour in the planning application. (You can view the letter in full on the application)

If you do agree with the residents comments and want to object, here is the guidance for you to use or adapt as you see fit.

This is what you have to do...

GUIDANCE

Overall form

1. Send the completed objection by email to planning.department@sefton.gov.uk

2. Subject title of the email, "Objection re planning proposal DC/2022/02326 (Shorrocks Hill “public car park” and housing development)".

3. Use the same reference at the top of the cover email and/or any attachment for clarity.

4. Try to keep the objection as concise as possible - a word limit of 2,000 is permitted on the online portal, however letters or email objections could potentially be longer, it is probably good practice to be concise and focused.

5. Theme your objection by the four relevant categories: (a) Environmental impact; (b) over-development; (c) impact on safety; and (d) restrictions on road access. Place these in whichever order is most important to you - you do not need to follow this order.

6. It is easy to say so much else in an objection, but it is important to avoid putting anything which is not relevant to the categories above.

7. You must give your name and address in full so that the objection can be verified as being genuine. Data protection - the council cannot pass on your details to anyone without your consent.

8. Each individual can and should (if they wish) submit an objection - if more than one member of a household wishes to object, then they can and they should.

Themes and content: some suggestions - but please reframe as best you can in your own words if using this

(a) Environmental impact

• The Formby Coast is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which additional housing, especially immediately adjacent to the area, would put pressure on. SSSIs are subject to nature conservation legislation.

• The area is also classified as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The regulations in UK law covering these "require establishment of a network of important high-quality conservation sites that will make a significant contribution to conserving the habitats and species" listed in the annexes of these regulations.

• The legislation makes it an offence to intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take (capture) a red squirrel; or to damage, destroy or obstruct access to any structure or place which a red squirrel uses for shelter or protection; or to disturb a red squirrel while it is occupying a structure or place which it uses for that purpose.

• The development of the site would require the destruction of a number of mature trees which act as food sources and nesting areas for the red squirrels. This is additionally problematic given that the strip of land covered by pine-woods is narrow, and any deforestation will significantly reduce the total size of the habitat, and also damage a corridor enabling movement of red squirrels from one section of the pine-woods to another.

• The protected species in the area also includes bats and, also in the area, sand lizards and natterjack toads.

• There would be further impact on biodiversity to the area and, with less tree cover, should the more dynamic sand dune environment move inwards, it places residential areas more at risk of being impacted (which was why the trees were planted in the first place).

• The construction process itself will be disruptive and damaging, and potentially use hazardous materials, causing pollution and noise affecting all of the wildlife concerned.

(b) Over-development

• The homes and car park, even if valid, would constitute over-development given their being immediately adjacent to a SSSI.

• The town's roads, amenities and supporting infrastructure will not support additional homes (arguably in Formby at large, but especially in this area).

• Such residential development will conflict with visitor and other demands, degrading the size and quality of the SAC/SSSI, and increasing the pressure on the site with additional space for residents and visitors.

• The car park and the residential areas of the development proposal, being at the south western edge of Formby, will be in conflict in terms of access pressure - residents and visitors will be in competition and both will be ill-served. This will be exacerbated by their being at the edge of the town, where any ingress/egress needs to go through the entire length of the town, increasing pressure not just on the local vicinity but throughout Formby and the wider area.

• Formby's population will within a matter of years (since the Andrew's Lane, Little Altcar and other developments) have increased significantly, but its location adjacent to the sea and in the Liverpool City Region's green belt limits its ability to develop infrastructure to cope with any increase in population (both for residents and visitors). Any development requires more careful management and implementation than that demonstrated in this proposal, which increases pressure but make no effort to alleviate the effects of that pressure.

(c) Impact on safety

• The increased volume of vehicles passing through to access these areas carries safety issues for humans and animals. Additionally, roadkill of suburban red squirrels impacts further the damage done to the population as a whole.

• Even before this development, on busy visitor days the fire brigade and other emergency services have struggled to access the area owing to traffic and parking congestion and obstruction. This development adds to the risks posed to "life and limb".

• The area has seen dangers owing to dangerous driving (including speeding and resultant crashes in St. Luke's Church Road/Kirklake Road) and antisocial behaviour, including fouling and littering. The construction of another car park will add to these dangers.

• Pollution. The additional noise and pollution of the additional traffic, compounded by the narrow roads serving a further purpose for which they were not designed, is damaging both to flora and fauna and the health and wellbeing of residents.

(d) Restrictions on access

• This part of Formby is only served and can only be served by two arterial roads in and out of town; further access points are not possible owing to the proximity of the sea and the SSSI/SAC area between the town and the sea. These roads have already proved incapable of meeting demand (which this development will add to) on busy days, and the council and residents are considering parking restrictions as it is. The 100 space car park will create more demand than it can supply for, and the areas that will suffer most are the adjacent residential streets.

• Furthermore, the immediate point of access is a one lane road (Lifeboat Road) which already struggles to cope with the demands of the National Trust car park and the users of a caravan site. In the proposal, both the new car park and residential area will feed into this road, which will almost certainly deny access to either when congestion on that road is at its worst. Both access points will in any case contribute to the likelihood of such congestion and the increase of its impact. 

• The problems of access (people being unable to access their homes), obstructive, illegal and dangerous parking, and by dangerous driving - witnessed especially since 2020 - will be made worse by the demands of those seeking the car park and needing to access the new homes. Construction traffic, noise and pollution will be unmanageable in the interim.

• As pointed out above (see safety) access for emergency vehicles has already been put in jeopardy, and these developments will make this worse. Fire engines (vital to guard against forest and dune grass fires) are in particular large vehicles, for which more limited space and access will make access impossible.