Neighbours given say on Standish homes plan

Letters have been sent to neighbours in Standish outlining the plan from developer Kier Living for 85 new houses at Robin Hill Farm.

The firm says it is aiming to transform a privately-owned site which has historically been used as grazing land for animals located off Robin Hill Lane between Standish Community High School and Pepper Lane.

Kier Living wants to build a mixture of one and two-bed apartments along with two, three and four-bedroom houses.

It says some of the properties will be shared ownership and have affordable rents and hopes its proposal will not affect the surrounding area.

The company also says it welcomes residents’ feedback, though neighbours will have to move quickly if they want their opinions to be considered when developers meet town hall planners.

However, the plan looks likely to be controversial due to the sheer amount of house-building that has gone on in Standish in recent years.

In the letter to residents Katie Dickson from Greyside Planning said: “We hope that the mix proposed helps local families to stay in the area and enable young people to get on to the property market and older residents to downsize should they wish.

“We believe that the proposal has been sensitively designed to ensure there is minimal impact on neighbouring properties and that the development becomes a welcome addition to the local area.

“The importance of local knowledge and local needs cannot be underestimated. Therefore, in order to ensure that our future homes are the best they can be we actively welcome any feedback or comments, positive or negative.”

Kier Living is yet to submit its planning application for the Robin House Farm development to Wigan Council.

The firm says it has drawn up plans for the homes over several months, taking into account Standish’s Neighbourhood Plan as well as the Local Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).

However, in the past few years community groups and Standish councillors and activists across the political spectrum have expressed fury at the amount of houses given the go ahead in Standish and called for the creation of new estates to be halted.

The planning application is expected to be submitted to the local authority in June.

Residents who have received the neighbourhood consultation letter have until May 31 to email their views to [email protected]

However, Kier Living says comments received after the deadline will still be read and discussed with Wigan Council planning officers.