NEW houses can be built on a field in Dalton-in-Furness – despite concerns about flooding nearby, planners have decided.

Barrow Council’s planning committee gave the thumbs up to an outline application lodged by Barrow-based builders Harry Barker Properties Ltd.

The panel voted seven in favour with two against for up to 36 houses on a field off Greystone Lane. The site is opposite Greenhills Pond, commonly known as Parker’s Pond.

Cllr Shaun Blezard, the Labour councillor for Dalton South, expressed reservations about the site and told the meeting that something should be done to stop flooding on Greystone Lane first.

He said: “I really can’t see this being a particularly great site for so many houses when the road closes so quickly. Anyone who lives in Dalton knows that road closes quickly. Come the rains, it’s the first place that floods in Dalton. I think it’s a ridiculous place because if it floods, how do you get out if that’s where the entrance is?”

However, principal council planning officer Charles Wilton said two other fields nearby had also been identified for housing and flooding had not been raised as a concern.

Mr Wilton said the developer was required to make sure that any drainage off the new houses went into a new pond – separate to Greenhills Pond, which would help improve the situation on Greystone Lane.

Mr Wilton told the committee: “It won’t aggravate the existing pond and I would advise that there will be some improvement.  At the moment that fields drains into Greenhills Pond. With this scheme, there will be slightly less rainwater percolating its way into Greenhills Pond.”

Planning committee member Cllr Gordon Murray, the Conservative councillor for Dalton South,  hailed the project as “fantastic” as it offered a mix of bedroom sizes, and houses with garages and gardens.

Cllr Murray said it would bring a “massive improvement” to the flooding issue on Greystone Lane. He said: “At the moment it’s a field and the rain comes out of the sky, goes into the field and then drains down into the pond. This application to build new houses on the site means all the water that would normally go into the pond and raise the level of the water, is going to go in the new pond, therefore there will be less water.”

The application was granted.