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WEST LANCASHIRE

19 January 2022

Vol 29 l Issue 3

www.champnews.com

PARKING CHAOS AT BEAUTY SPOT TO BE TACKLED Report by Henry James

The sign at the entrance to Fairy Glen

Charity chalks up 30 years!

Praise for mountain bike trail volunteers

INSIDE THIS WEEK:

COUNCILLORS are to consider plans to tackle parking chaos at the Fairy Glen beauty spot in West Lancs. The sheer number of vehicles which descend of the site, which borders Appley Bridge and Parbold, has resulted in a “serious safety problem” on one of the borough’s busiest roads. There has been a huge increase in visitors to the beauty spot in recent months and now Lancashire County Council is proposing to introduce a ‘red route’ clearway, to prevent vehicles from stopping, waiting, or parking, along the A5209 - along which Fairy Glen sits from junction 27 of the M6 to the start of the 30mph zone to Parbold. A report to the council’s cabinet meeting due to be held on Thursday, January 20 outlines that the number of people visiting Fairy Glen, a small woodland area, has ballooned since the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, which prompted many people to explore new places for exercise and recreation. Fairy Glen can be accessed from the A5209 as well as a number of smaller local roads,

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Huge increase in visitors to Fairy Glen has resulted in ‘serious safety problem’ say County Council

but has no dedicated car park, resulting in a problem with large numbers of people parking along grass verges on the A5209. This has raised serious safety concerns for the visitors themselves and other traffic on what is a very busy route. The report to the council’s cabinet outlines the results of recent public consultation on the proposals to introduce a ‘red route’ clearway, which would allow the county council to enforce parking and waiting across the whole width of the highway, including the pavements and grass verges. County Councillor Charlie Edwards, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Since 2020, Fairy Glen has begun attracting a huge number of visitors, many from beyond the immediate local area, resulting in a serious safety problem due to people parking along what is a very busy road. Cont. on page 3

A computerised image of what the new Aldi would look like at Westgate

Aldi submit revised plans for town centre site... and agree to keep Concourse store open ALDI has submitted a revised application in their bid to build a new store at land at Westgate and High Street in Skelmersdale and they have now given assurances that they will keep their Concourse unit open, which has a lease until 2025. At the end of 2019 the supermarket chain submitted plans to relocate to a new store within the town at the old Co-op offices at Westgate, but the application has encountered multiple objections. The new development would create 40 to 50 full and part-time jobs. An objection was raised by the applicant’s existing landlord, who were “extremely concerned” about the adverse impact caused by the loss of Aldi. Lidl, who are a part of the

by Henry James new Skelmersdale town centre scheme being delivered by St Modwen, have also objected. They did threaten to pull out if Aldi did secure consent for a larger store to compete with Lidl. Aldi want to develop a site at Westgate which was occupied by a 1960’s office building until it was demolished in 2021 after an arson attack. The building had been vacant since 2016 when the Co-operative Group moved out. As part of the revised application there is a covering letter from Avison Young, who are representing the German retailer. Continued inside

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