SEVERAL housing applications have been lodged with Ribble Valley Council with only a few weeks to go until the core housing strategy is submitted for government inspection.

Two applications, one for 56 homes and another for 33, both in Billington, have been sent to the council days after a plan for 62 houses was submitted for Barrow.

A plan for more than 500 homes in Barrow is set to be decided on appeal and the appeal into plans for 245 properties in Clitheroe will report its decision in December.

Any housing that is approved by the council before the core strategy, which will limit the number of developments, is given the go-ahead by the government does not count under the housing limit of 5,000 until 2028.

The two new Billington sites are the land off Dale View and the Wilkinson Haulage Yard and adjacent land off Whalley Road.

Developers have been accused of undertaking a ‘mad dash’ to the line before any housing cap is introduced.

The core strategy, which was originally rejected by the government over concerns over the accompanying evidence, is undergoing a public consultation.

Nick Walker, chairman of the Save Whalley Village Campaign, said: “The Ribble Valley is being turned into a massed housing estate and we have been saying this all along.

“There is not a need for these houses in the valley and the ‘need’ has been made up by the developers.

“The views of local people have been ignored at every turn and the consultation period is a joke because it just gives developers more time to submit applications.”

Sarah Parry, a member of the Barrow Action Group, said: “The core strategy is well overdue and it has allowed everyone to submit whatever they like to the council.

“It has allowed developers to take advantage of the council’s sloppiness.”