Member Article

Garden Village plan as Cheshire housing scheme approved

Cheshire West and Chester Council has given outline planning permission to build 1,570 homes and create a ‘garden village’ on farmland at Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port.

In June the Strategic Planning Committee refused permission for a scheme for two thousand homes on the same Ledsham Road site.

A revised application was before the committee with the housing number reduced.

Councillors voted after hearing from area planning manager Jon Sutcliffe that the original reasons for refusal, which were the subject of an appeal to the Secretary of State, relating to safeguarded land, loss of the best and most versatile agricultural land and severe traffic impacts, were not, following analysis, sustainable or sufficiently robust to successfully defend.

A report before Councillors stated that the homes would be built over an 18 year period on a 105 hectare site and the ‘garden neighbourhood’ would be developed by incorporating extensive areas of open space including a new linear park, playing fields and allotments.

The housing would be a mix of mainly two storey market and affordable housing but with development up to three storeys in the ‘heart’ of the development.

The plans include a new primary school, a community building and a local shop. The majority of the site was land that had previously been ‘safeguarded’ in case it was needed for development in the Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Plan.

David O’Reilly speaking on behalf of Redrow Homes, said that it would be a high quality, sustainable development which had drawn inspiration from Port Sunlight, adding there were extensive community benefits including 375 affordable homes and 200 construction jobs.

Councillor Helen Weltman said: “This is similar to an estate I live on in Kingsmead, just outside Northwich and I don’t know if there are any other former Vale Royal Borough Councillors here when that was passed 20 odd years ago, but that was a sort – of phased development with not as much open space as this application actually, but I know that this works quite well, it is quite a community.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .