Find, save and share Public Notices that affect you in the area.
Search the Public Notice Portal What is the Public Notice Portal?What is the Public Notice Portal?
The Public Notice Portal carries statutory public notices published in local newspapers and is the fastest and most effective way of finding out what is happening in YOUR neighbourhood.
Search the Public Notice PortalA long-running bid to build a luxury two‑bed holiday lodge in the quiet hamlet of Staynall, Wyre, has finally been approved, despite planning officers advising councillors to turn it down.
The two‑storey, high‑spec holiday retreat at Cobblestone Barn, created by re‑using part of an existing stable block, had already been refused in two earlier forms.
This latest version, however, arrived with a thick bundle of technical reports on ecology, landscape, drainage and highways which, together with the support of specialist consultees, helped sway the final decision in favour of the applicants.
Ecology advisers at Greater Manchester Ecology Unit (GMEU) raised no objections, provided conditions were attached to protect nesting birds, adopt “reasonable avoidance measures” for great crested newts and secure the scheme’s Biodiversity Net Gain package.
A 2025 BNG assessment showed the project would deliver a 25.81 per cent uplift in biodiversity units on site, comfortably more than double the government’s 10 per cent legal minimum.
Although the site sits within an SSSI impact zone and within 3.5km of Morecambe Bay, GMEU concluded that a single, short‑stay holiday unit, which does not increase permanent residency, would have no likely significant effect on internationally protected bird populations and could be screened out of further Habitats Regulations Assessment.
Natural England, the Government’s conservation watchdog, offered no objection and directed Wyre to use its standard standing advice.
Highways officers at Lancashire County Council also confirmed they had no objections, stating the development would not have “a significant impact on highway safety, capacity or amenity”.
They pointed out that the narrow lane is lightly used and largely frequented by walkers and cyclists, and recommended conditions to upgrade the access with bound surfacing and to retain on‑site parking and turning so vehicles can enter and leave in forward gear.
Landscape impact, a key issue in earlier refusals, was tackled through a detailed Landscape and Visual Appraisal running to more than 30 pages.
Using year‑round photographs, historic comparisons and computer‑generated photomontages, consultants argued the lodge would sit on low ground within a ring of mature trees, with additional evergreen planting already in place, and would be “completely protected from exterior views” even in winter.
A supplementary study from the junction of Staynall Lane and Highgate Lane claimed that existing converted barns, roadside homes and nearby static caravans appear more prominent in the landscape than the new lodge, which would read as part of the loose cluster of buildings forming the hamlet rather than an eastward creep into open fields.
The applicants also leaned heavily on how the business operates in practice. A separate statement set out how guests tend to spend much of their stay on site, using amenities such as table tennis, wildlife gardens, boules, a putting green, cinema rooms, a fishing pond, orchard and a wellness hut.
Two local walking routes, one via public footpaths to the shop and pub in Stalmine, the other linking to the Wyre Way, are heavily promoted, with car use discouraged by house rules banning stag and hen parties, quiet hours after 9pm and a strict “three‑strike” policy on antisocial behaviour.
On sustainability, the project is framed as a low‑impact, part‑reuse scheme rather than a pure new‑build. The stable block’s walls and foundations are retained, with solar panels, rainwater harvesting tanks, EV charging points and extensive native planting built into the design.
United Utilities raised no objection, asking only that the applicants steer clear of underground assets and drain surface water to an existing watercourse instead of the public sewer, an approach already reflected in the drainage proposals.
Despite that clean sweep of support from consultees, the council’s own planning report recommended refusal, arguing that the remote countryside location meant guests would be “heavily reliant” on the private car to reach shops, services and attractions.
Officers concluded the scheme clashed with Wyre Local Plan policies SP1, SP2, EP8 and CDMP6 on sustainable development and transport, and that the economic and environmental benefits did not outweigh those concerns.
Read more
Councillors, however, ultimately took a different view and decided to permit the application, attaching conditions to lock in the ecological safeguards, BNG delivery, drainage strategy, access upgrades and strict holiday‑only use.
Their decision means the lodge will now join the existing high‑end Barn Owl and Hare House lets as a third unit in the Cobblestone Cottages portfolio, marketed at couples and smaller families seeking upmarket rural breaks with private hot tubs and cinema facilities.
For the owners, the approval brings a hard‑fought end to years of planning wrangles, and for Staynall, it confirms a new, but tightly controlled, chapter in the hamlet’s growing role as a niche rural tourism destination.
Share