A temporary road is set to be built to ensure customers can still get to a South Ribble pub which would otherwise be cut off to vehicles when flood defence work begins nearby.
The Environment Agency has applied for permission to create the short new route in order to maintain access to the Yew Tree in Walton-le-Dale.
Motorists currently reach the pub’s car park from Victoria Road – but part of that street will be closed for the next phase of work under the Preston and South Ribble Flood Management Scheme.
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A blueprint has now been submitted to South Ribble Borough Council proposing a 25-metre section of footpath on the approach the Yew Tree – off the A6, London Way, – is dug up and replaced with a road that would connect to an existing loading bay running alongside the pub. Together, the two facilities would provide a one-way route into the car park.
As vehicles would not be able to leave by the same way, it is also proposed that a gap is cut into a pavement at the back of the parking area to enable customers to exit onto a section of Victoria Road that will remain open and which links back onto London Way, opposite the Capitol Centre.
The makeshift arrangements would be removed and the original road layout reinstated once the flood defence work was completed.
Although the pub is a Grade II-listed building, further special permission regarding the impact of the highway plans on its protected status will not be required – because they are deemed minor and are not permanent.
However, ordinary planning approval will still be needed before the scheme can be implemented.
The flood works themselves and the closure of Victoria Road are subject to separate permissions being granted by South Ribble Borough Council and Lancashire County Council, respectively.
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