Wards O'Th Hill Farm Blackburn Old Road Hoghton Preston PR5 0SJ Data via plota.co.uk

26/00056/AGR - Agricultural (Prior Notification) Approved

Proposal

Agricultural determination for the construction of a new access track Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
20 Jan 2026
✓
Approved
16 Feb 2026

Approved on 16 Feb 2026 · Delegated Decision · Last checked 6 Jul 2026

Site constraints 6

3 listed buildings within 150 m of the postcode pin
Nearest: Holy Trinity School, Grade II, about 1 m from the postcode pin · 3 Grade II
The site itself is not listed. Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.
Show all 3 with distances
Historic England ↗
Green belt: Merseyside and Greater Manchester
Inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.
Green belt policy allows a short list of exceptions, such as limited extensions and replacement buildings. Anything else needs very special circumstances that clearly outweigh the harm. Some green belt land can count as grey belt, where it does not strongly serve the green belt's purposes. The council decides this in its green belt assessment or on each application, so we do not mark it here.
Read the government guidance ↗
Agricultural land, grade 3b
Not best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Source: the Predictive Agricultural Land Classification Map (Defra and Natural England, 2025; the Welsh Government's Predictive ALC Map 2 in Wales), a model rather than a site survey. Natural England's Provisional ALC map (1:250,000, 1970s) agrees.
Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.
Radon affected area, class 5
An estimated 10 to 30% of homes reach the radon action level. Indicative for the 1 km square, which takes the highest class found in it; a radon test gives the answer for a building.
From the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency indicative atlas. Under building regulations, as the BRE guide BR 211 (2023) sets out, new buildings and extensions need basic radon protection from class 3 in England and Wales and from class 2 in Scotland, and full protection from class 5. The class at the site itself, from the detailed BGS map, decides which.
UKHSA radon ↗
Also on the record
Registered park or garden about 242 m away: Hoghton Tower; Priority habitat about 25 m away: Deciduous woodland.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 6 October 2026. The pin for this application is the centre of its postcode rather than the building, so distances to nearby designations are measured from the postcode and can be out by the width of the postcode area. Historic England, the Environment Agency, Natural England, the British Geological Survey and UK Health Security Agency (radon, contains BGS materials © UKRI) and council datasets, Open Government Licence. A boundary can run through a site and the council holds the definitive record: confirm with the council before relying on this.

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Important details

Council
Chorley
Application type
Agricultural (Prior Notification)
Postcode
PR5 0SJ
Received
20 Jan 2026
Validated
20 Jan 2026
Ward
Clayton East, Brindle And Hoghton
Parish
Hoghton
Case officer
Show
Target decision
16 Feb 2026
Decision
Prior App not required - Agr
Decision date
16 Feb 2026
Decision level
Delegated Decision
Applicant
Show
Agent
John Forrester Limited

How this decision compares

Decided in 27 days from validation, about the council's usual 27 days. Approved, as 100% of agricultural works here are.

92%decided within 8 weeks
100%approved
30decided in the last year

Plota live figures for agricultural works decided by Chorley in the last twelve months, from validation. Chorley decision record →

Consultation & key dates

Alt. reference
PP-14634314
Planning Portal ref
PP-14634314
Comments by
20 Feb 2026
Statutory expiry
16 Feb 2026
Env. assessment
No
Chorley
Planning Authority Score
7.5/10
Good
#42 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Chorley is faster than most councils at deciding householder applications, ranking #49 out of 296. Householder applications are slightly more likely to be approved here (95%) than the national average (90%).

Faster than most councils
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Chorley decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
93%
Overall approval rate
Above avg (87%) #51 of 296
95%
Householder approved
Above avg (90%) #73 of 296
78%
Decided in 8 weeks
Above avg (63%) #49 of 296
35%
Extended time limit
Below avg (41%) #100 of 296
95%
Minor dwellings approved
77 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
4 decided (10+ homes)
73%
Change of use approved
11 decided
553
Total decisions
39 refused in the year to March 2026