The Petition of the Friends of Sunnyhurst Wood and others,
Declares that the storage of silt from the Paddling Pond and Moat Lake in Sunnyhurst Wood results in the formation of large unsightly mounds over long periods.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to call on Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council to take steps to prevent the storage of silt in Sunnyhurst Wood.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Jake Berry, Official Report, 27 July 2010; Vol. 514, c. 973.]
[P000854]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government:
The decision on whether to take steps to prevent the storage of silt in Sunnyhurst Wood is a matter for the local planning authority. In taking its decision it would consider whether the removal of the silt could be deemed to be an engineering operation under the terms of the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act and/or whether the storage of the material could be viewed as being a material change in the use of the land. If either case were true, the authority would then consider whether any of these activities had been granted a general permission under the Act, and was not subject to specific planning consent. In any case the matter would be for local determination.