24/08/2026
🚨 ACTION NEEDED: SAY NO TO PARKING CHARGES AT LEVER PARK! 🚨
United Utilities has submitted four planning applications to Chorley Council to install ANPR camera poles, payment machines, and commercial parking infrastructure across Lever Park and the Rivington estate.
If we want to stop United Utilities turning Lord Leverhulme’s free public gift into a corporate paywall, we must object now.
🗓 Deadline: 27 August 2026
📌 THE 4 PLANNING APPLICATIONS TO REFERENCE
Please object to all four:
26/00665/FUL – Knowle House Car Park
26/00666/FUL – Great House Barn Car Park
26/00667/FUL – Anglezarke Car Park
26/00668/FUL – Rivington Lane & Belmont Road (Primary School, Lower House, Main Drive, Rear Drive + roadside sites)
(You can also search “United Utilities Rivington” on the Chorley Planning Portal.)
📩 HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OBJECTION
1️⃣ Online (Recommended)
Go to chorley.gov.uk/planning, search each application number, log in, and click “Comment on this application”.
👉 Remember to include your full name and address or your objection won’t count.
2️⃣ Email
Send objections to: [email protected]
Subject: Objection to United Utilities Rivington Car Park Applications
Include your name + address.
📋 VALID PLANNING GROUNDS YOU CAN USE
🚗 1. Highway Safety & Dangerous Traffic Displacement
Paid parking will push vehicles onto narrow rural lanes and residential roads (Green Lane, Sheephouse Lane, Roynton Road, Horrobin Lane, Moor Road), blocking residents, farms and emergency services.
🌿 2. Green Belt & Landscape Harm
ANPR poles, payment machines and commercial signage are urban clutter in protected countryside and a Grade II historic landscape.
🦉 3. Ecological Impact
Infrastructure works and displaced verge parking threaten tree root systems, wildlife habitats and the Lever Park Biological Heritage Site.
📜 4. Breach of Statutory Duty (Liverpool Corporation Act 1902)
Lever Park must be maintained for the “free and uninterrupted enjoyment of the public”.
United Utilities is a statutory trustee: maintaining the park is part of the quid‑pro‑quo for the commercial use of the reservoirs.
Maintenance must come from UU’s profits — not from charging visitors.
⚖️ 5. Right of Access (Moncrieff v Jamieson)
The House of Lords ruled that when parking is essential to enjoy land, the right to park is implied.
In a rural park where most visitors must drive, charging for parking is effectively charging for access, which contradicts Lever Park’s statutory protections.
♿ 6. Social Exclusion & Inequity of Access
Parking charges create a financial barrier for lower‑income families, older residents, disabled visitors and anyone relying on vehicle access to enjoy the countryside.
🗣️ Don’t stay silent — object today!
Please SHARE this post across Horwich, Bolton, Chorley and Rivington groups so everyone can make their voice heard.