A CAMPAIGN against plans to build 17 houses in Sabden has received a boost after Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans wrote to the council expressing his opposition.

The application from P&D Developments Ltd comes in the wake of the large development at Cobden Mill, which still has a lot of unsold homes, the estate planned for Victoria Mill in Watt Street and the Black Hill View and Stubbins Lane developments which are both under way.

The latest application, for the homes off Pendle Street East, is due to go before the planning and development committee on September 12.

A ‘Love Sabden’ campaign group has been set up and its Facebook group has received 186 ‘likes’.

In a letter to the borough council Mr Evans said: “There are serious questions being raised over access, highway safety, drainage, environment, light pollution, infrastructure, employment, the green-field site and cumulative effect of recent applications.

“In particular I do feel that Sabden has more than taken its fair share of development in recent years.

“I am concerned that areas such as Sabden will be unrecognisable within a short period of time if development on this scale is allowed to continue.

“I strongly believe that the opinions of communities should be given large weight when deciding planning applications.”