A FURIOUS campaigner has criticised a district council for lacking transparency and waiting too long to notify residents about a proposal to build a concrete batching plant opposite their homes in Lindal.

Joyce Tam, of Bank Terrace, Lindal, has been fighting alongside other homeowners since June last year to prevent a construction plant with two 12-metre silos being built just off the A590.

South Lakeland District Council is currently deliberating an application from L&W Wilson in Endmoor, with a decision potentially set to be made next month.

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Lindal residents vent anger over concrete plant bid

However, Mrs Tam believes that the council should have notified them sooner about the development, which she believes is highly controversial as the land is not designated for industrial use.

The 52-year-old said: "We didn't know about it for two years. It was pretty damning from the council and the planning application team.

"If a controversial planning application is put in it should be good grace to inform local people.

"The area is not designated as industrial land. So many applications have been put in for that land and they have all been denied because it will encroach on the beauty of the area and access to the A590 will be a problem - SLDC have said that for years.

"They should have engaged with local people because we would have been up in arms about it from the off. There's been a complete lack of transparency."

The application by L&W Wilson has had to be modified with Highways England asking for a new audit to take place over fears that the current application did not meet road safety standards.

Mrs Tam believes that the construction of a plant would be "devastating" for Lindal residents as she urged the committee to reject the proposal.

She said: "There is plenty of industrial land for sale in Barrow so why can't they just build there?

"It would be devastating. I will be directly opposite the site and no amount of screening will stop the dust. It's a dirty operation and cars will be ruined."

READ MORE: Residents oppose Lindal concrete plant proposals

Sarah Braithwaite, who also lives in Bank Terrace, Lindal, urged people to object to the plans by sending submissions via email to development.management@southlakeland.gov.uk, quoting reference number 2016/0600.

She said: "It is on everybody's mind and we want to be sure that all the information has been given so that a choice can be made which is hopefully in our favour."

Kate Lawson, who is the case officer for South Lakeland District Council, said: "We deal with pre-planning applications all the time but these are not in the public domain. It doesn't become a formal submission until a full planning application is made."