Decisions on two planning applications for the development of a raised mire peat bog on the edge of Wilmslow have been delayed for nearly 18 months due to ongoing discussions with expert bodies.
The owners of Lindow Moss submitted two planning applications in December 2014 for the Green Belt site.
The first of which was seeking permission to build 14 detached houses to the south of the peat bog and the second application is for the restoration of the 28 hectares peat extraction site. The proposal is to turn this into a natural wetland habitat.
Andrew Rowland and Richard Bond are proposing that peat extraction ceases once planning permission for the houses is granted and Lindow Moss is restored as a matrix of peatland wetland habitats by encouraging the return of native flora and fauna and enhancing the range of habitats which already exist.
The planning applications, references 15/0064M and 15/0016M, were due to be determined by April and March last year. More recently they were set to be on the agenda for the Planning Committee's meeting in July 2016 but this did not go ahead.
A Council spokesman said: "These two planning applications relate to the same site.
"There is a valid consent to extract peat from the site and the proposal in the first application is to cease peat extraction and restore the site to a 'raised lowland peat bog,' which would be of extreme significance from an ecology point of view as such habitats are very rare in England and this would be the only one of this nature in Cheshire.
"In addition it would bring about an early end to peat extraction at the site, which offers significant climate change benefits given that peat bog are an important carbon sink.
"The second application is for planning permission for 14 houses to be built on the site in order to fund the restoration scheme.
"The site is in the Cheshire East Green Belt and therefore there must be very special circumstances in order to justify an exception being made to Green Belt policy.
"There are ongoing discussions with expert bodies such as Natural England and the Cheshire Wildlife Trust to examine the details of the restoration scheme and its future management which must be completed before any conclusions can be reached regarding the acceptability or otherwise of these proposals."
Planning permission for peat extraction on Lindow Moss was granted by five separate permissions between 1959 and 1967, which expire in February 2042.
At present the western part of the peat extraction area must be restored either to a nature conservation after use or an amenity that promotes nature conservation. The eastern section must be restored to agricultural after use by backfilling.
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A visit to the Cheshire Wildlife Trust website today, apart from confusing the moss with Lindow Common, talks of the damage caused by peat extraction through the lowering of the water table.
In 2013 we wrote to Natural England about the state of the moss, the final paragraph of their reply stating 'to clarify our position with respect to ground water levels outside the SSSI (Lindow Common) my interest relate only to the levels within the SSSI.' No interest whatsoever in the moss.
If CEC are taking advice from those bodies we hope they are talking about the right place.