We're still not convinced!
It's Our City announce public meeting

It's Our City will hold a public meeting on Monday 10th July at 7 pm in Lancaster Town Hall. It's Our City will explain their opposition to Centros Miller's proposals and will open discussions on alternatives for the Canal Corridor North site.

It's Our City have also responded to comments by Centros Miller and John Donnellon of Lancaster City Council regarding the proposed development of the Canal Corridor North site.

John Donnellon says that It's Our City have jumped the gun by criticising the developers without seeing the latest version of their master plan. It's Our City member Cal Giles said 'As far as we are aware, we have seen the most recent version of the master plan. Of course, we would not presume to criticise plans that we have not yet seen. However, if there is a more recent version of the master plan than the one presented on 31st May, why has it not been released? We would love to see it!'

In addition, John Donnellon states that data on traffic and the impact on the city centre will not be considered in detail until the planning application stage. It's Our City totally disagrees with this. The impact of the development on traffic is absolutely fundamental and thus far appears to have been sidelined by Centros Miller. Genuine traffic data must be provided by Centros Miller well before the planning application and certainly before the council enters into any formal development agreements with Centros Miller.

Emilie Secker of It's Our City comments 'Centros Miller say that this is not a Big Box development. It looks like a big box full of shops and a big box full of cars to me. If that's not a Big Box development then what is?'

Despite claims that Centros Miller are 'open' and are conducting full consultation they have failed to take heed of residents' concerns that their development will cause further traffic chaos and will make existing city centres in Lancaster and Morecambe into ghost towns. Furthermore, It's Our City asks whether exact details of the nature and content of the development agreement to be agreed with Lancaster City Council next month will be made public before July 24th?

A further concern is the statement by James Laker of Centros Miller 'if a scheme is going to happen you need a champion in the council - and that can be either a councillor or an officer - but the problem is until you get involved with a scheme you don't know whether there's anyone there able to take on that role'. It's Our City asks: who is Centros Miller's champion on Lancaster City Council? The City needs to know.