Plans for a housing development next to a village primary school have been given the green light – despite concerns over children’s safety and flooding.

Copeland planners have approved an application for 20 houses and an attenuation basin on land to the North of School Brow at Moresby Parks in Whitehaven.

Outline planning permission for houses on the site had been granted to a previous developer in 2017. The 20-home plans were lodged by a new developer last year and have now been given full planning permission.

The scheme put forward by Raemore Developments Ltd, will be made up of self-build houses. A car park with 20 spaces for use by Moresby Primary School is included within the plans.

Surface water will be disposed of via a drainage system to a surface water attenuation pond on land next to the site, which then discharges at a controlled rate to an unnamed tributary of Lowca Beck.

Copeland Council’s planning panel visited the site on August 16 before making their decision at a meeting held on Wednesday.

Concerned resident Eric Musgrave, who spoke at the meeting to oppose the scheme, said the site visit had not given a “true reflection” of the area because it had taken place during the school holidays and on a dry day.

Mr Musgrave said a haulage business that often travels through the village and heavy goods vehicles are forced to mount the pavements and go on to the grass verges, due to the number of cars parked on the road.

He told the meeting: “Your heart is in your mouth when you see the children and the wagons coming up there. That’s now, before any development. We are really concerned about the road safety and hazards to the children.

“The developments will be enveloping the school. This is not only going past a school, they are going to put two developments either side of a school. It’s obscene. A poor little child could get knocked over and I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so’.”

Mr Musgrave said he was also concerned over how the attenuation basin would be controlled.

He said: “How is it going to be controlled if it goes above the level of the valve? You can’t control the rain falling from the sky. It will impact Lowca Beck. This area already floods.”

Mike Rae, the applicant behind the scheme, said: “The traffic assessment was carried out during school times.

“Part of the application is that we put in a car park for a minimum of 20 car parking places that will be accessed adjacent to the school so the vast majority of cars will be removed from the road during that time.”

Addressing concerns over flooding, Mr Rae said: “There’s no more additional water going down the water course than there would be off an undeveloped field.

“We are going to be taking a lot more water from the roads into our detention basin and that reduces the amount of water during flood conditions at Lowca Beck.”

Members voted 5-3 in favour of the plans being approved.

READ MORE: Decision on 90-home scheme at Harras Moor deferred after councillors request site visit