£6.8m relief road for estate will come with its own orchard

How Huncoat Garden Village cold look

- BY BILL JACOBS LOCAL DEMOCRACY REPORTING SERVICE

DETAILS have been revealed of the £6.8million new relief road key to one of East Lancashire's biggest ever housing developments which will come with its own orchard.

The 1.1 kilometre highway will serve the planned £460m Huncoat Garden village which is projected to bring 1,816 new homes to Hyndburn borough.

The new single-carriageway road with a 30mph speed limit will join the Western Roundabout of the A679 Burnley Road/A56 Accrington bypass near The Griffin pub with Altham Lane.

Hyndburn Council has now published its application for planning permission from itself for the relief road, paid for out of a £30m government grant from Homes England's Infrastructure Fund.

The proposal includes the creation of a 0.7 acre traditional orchard along the A56 featuring a range of fruit trees with a focus on northern UK heritage varieties such as Golden Spire, Green Balsam, Puckrupt Pippin, and Perry pears, along with species beneficial to wildlife.

The scheme is one of several measures, which include wildflower meadows, to protect local ecology and improve bio-diversity in application.