Little hope for new marina

LOCAL residents at Lydiate on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal have shown great opposition to the plans for a new marina, and there is little hope of it becoming a reality.

The marina was to be built on farmland by the waterway, with 135 berths, but the development has resulted in the majority of people attending a Lydiate Parish Council meeting opposing planning permission, Alan Tilbury reveals.

Residents have raised concerns about a number of factors including more  traffic, loss of green belt and security.

Opposing the plans

Maureen Roche has created a petition that quickly gathered over 250 opposing the plans, and around 140 people attended the meeting to voice their opposition, stating:

"This is the wrong place for a marina. The roads around here just aren't built for any more traffic. They tell us the road and bridge over the canal is very quiet with just one or two cars travelling across the bridge in an hour., but I have conducted a survey, and counted over 200.

£1 million in tourism

The backers told that the marina was expected to bring in £1m in tourism to the area, which the local council believed, and so backed the  application.

Commenting on the meeting, Lydiate Parish Council chairman, David Russell, remarked:

"More than 100 people came to see the plans and the majority of those that came were against it. The parish council are here to represent the people and that is what we are doing.

"The initial feeling was that shops would have prospered from the marina and therefore survived and stayed in business to serve residents. But if the community feel they do not want the marina, and it is the residents' views which count, then we have to take that into account."