Ramsclough Farm Haslingden Old Road Oswaldtwistle BB5 3SN Data via plota.co.uk

2025/0348 - Neighbouring Authority Pending

Proposal

Planning Consultation: - Request for Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Screening Opinion for Proposed Ramsclough Solar Farm Data via plota.co.uk

View original council record ↗Last checked

Application progress

✓
Received
18 Aug 2025
✓
Validated
19 Aug 2025
✓
Consultation
20 Aug 2025
Decision
Target date was 9 Sept 2025

Under consideration

No decision has been issued yet. Plota predicted a decision around 28 Oct 2026; it is now day 435.

The consultation period closed on 10 Sept 2025.

Site constraints 6

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 4
Poor quality farmland, not best and most versatile. 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.
Habitat network: Network Enhancement Zone 2
Where habitat is joined up enough to work as a network. Context, not a constraint on its own.
Also on the record
Radon affected area, class 2; SSSI about 401 m away: West Pennine Moors SSSI; Coalfield, development low risk area.
Not affected
Outside flood zones 2 and 3 · No scheduled monument at the site

Checked on 16 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 Mining Remediation Authority, 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.

Building

Floor area2,928 m² (31,517 sq ft)
Energy ratingC (asset rating 68)
UseB1 Offices and Workshop businesses
HeatingHeating and Natural Ventilation

From the energy performance certificate lodged in October 2012, the latest held for this property. The building may have changed since. View the certificate

Work with planning data?

Every application in Rossendale - and every UK council - as a live feed, an API, or a bulk CSV export.

About Plota's data service

Important details

Council
Rossendale
Application type
Neighbouring Authority
Postcode
OL13 0BB
Received
18 Aug 2025
Validated
19 Aug 2025
Case officer
Show
Target decision
9 Sept 2025
Applicant
Show

Decision outlook

Day 435, past the statutory target. 88% of other in Rossendale are decided within thirteen weeks; extensions of time are common, and the council need not decide on the day. Last seen undecided on 24 Oct 2026.

Day 435379 days past the 56-day target
71%decided within 8 weeks
95%approved
2,204decided in the last year

Plota live figures for other decided across the UK in the last twelve months, from validation; too few recent other in Rossendale to go on. Rossendale decision record →

Public comments

No public comments yet.

Last counted 24 Oct 2026

Read the comments on the council site ↗

Consultation & key dates

Consultation
20 Aug 2025
Comments by
10 Sept 2025
Statutory expiry
9 Sept 2025
Env. assessment
No
Rossendale
Planning Authority Score
1/10
Poor
#293 of 296 councils
Relevant to this application:
Householder decisions

Rossendale is one of the slowest councils in England for householder decisions, ranking #287 out of 296. The council extends the time limit on 75% of applications - one of the highest rates in England. Expect your application to take longer than the standard deadline. Householder applications are slightly less likely to be approved here (88%) than the national average (90%).

Among the slowest councils in England
for householder decisions
These figures are council-wide context, not a prediction for this application. View full council performance
Rossendale decision statistics
Based on MHCLG data, the year to March 2026
86%
Overall approval rate
Below avg (87%) #197 of 296
88%
Householder approved
Below avg (90%) #222 of 296
27%
Decided in 8 weeks
Below avg (63%) #287 of 296
75%
Extended time limit
Above avg (41%) #293 of 296
85%
Minor dwellings approved
34 decided (1-9 homes)
100%
Major dwellings approved
3 decided (10+ homes)
59%
Change of use approved
17 decided
231
Total decisions
33 refused in the year to March 2026

Energy performance: Energy performance certificates from the Energy Performance of Buildings Register, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright 2026.