15 June 2023
Green councillors for Ellel ward have welcomed the news that Homes England and Lancashire County Council have mutually agreed to withdraw funding for the South Lancaster roads and new town project and return the money to Government in the face of escalating construction costs.
Green Councillor Sally Maddocks said:
“The South Lancaster project was always an alarming combination of over-ambition regarding developers' capacity to pay for it, alongside uncosted climate and nature impact. This decision removes the uncertainty that has hung over so many Ellel residents for so long. There will be huge relief all around Galgate.
“But this was never just a local issue. As construction costs have risen with inflation, the original £121m funding gap between the actual infrastructure costs and the HIF grant has widened very considerably. The financial risk to the taxpayer had become ever starker.”
Sally's Ellel ward colleague, Councillor Paul Tynan, added:
“The City Council now needs to take stock and think more clearly how to address the district’s acute housing needs, and traffic congestion issues, by alternative, sustainable means.
“And I call on Wain Homes developers to stop pursuing its ridiculous 108-home scheme in the fields off Highland Brow in Galgate, now that the hope of building an underpass of the West Coast Mainline from A6/Hazelrigg Lane has been extinguished.”
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