More than 85 members of the public attended a Wilmslow Town Council meeting on to express their concern over plans for a new housing development on former greenbelt land off Cumber Lane.
Members of Wilmslow Town Council voted unanimously to object to the Bellway Homes application to build 133 houses on the site which is safeguarded for housing development under the current Local Plan,
The community group Protect Lindow is arguing for Cheshire East Council to reassess its housing site plans in order to prevent the loss of 4.5 hectares of land which includes peatland to housebuilding.
A spokesman on behalf of Protect Lindow outlined the group's objections before the planning committee.
Max Griffiths told the committee: "You can see from the attendance this evening that there is very strong local objection to this development, but we are well aware that strength of local feeling is not enough on its own to reject a planning application. There are a number of facts that mean this application should be rejected by Cheshire East Council, including contravention of the council's own policies and national planning frameworks."
Protect Lindow aims to restore the site to green belt to protect the significant quantities of peat that are present in the ground which is located less than half a mile from the Lindow Man find site.
Max said: "Bellway's own application highlights the presence of significant quantities of deep peat on the site, especially to the south and west where it borders the rest of LPS 59. However, the application underplays the amount of carbon that would be released as a result of this development and fails to provide a robust carbon balance assessment. Without this, the application fails to demonstrate that it meets local and national policies in respect of climate change and should be rejected."
His comments were met with a round of applause from attendees, before planning committee member Councillor Tim Higgins outlined the committee's own concerns, including noting that the planning application did not demonstrate how it would sensitively approach implementation on the distinctive character of the area as required by the Lindow Moss Character Landscape Assessment, nor how the deep peat on the site would be safeguarded and sustained.
The planning committee meeting followed weeks of community mobilisation organised by Protect Lindow, which has seen local residents join together to raise awareness of the plans and encourage people to have their say before the 3 July objection deadline.
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There are also the 70 houses with access from Upcast Lane (if approved), and when/if the two sites are joined together, as they almost certainly would be if these two proposals go ahead, we can expect the final figure to be over 500 houses on that "SafeGuarded" area.
The expression "SafeGuarded" is misleading of course, it's "SafeGuarded" FOR building developers, rather than from them.
Meanwhile what’s happening at Handforth Garden Village as announced to Parliament by the then PM Teresa May? 1800 houses and a village infrastructure.
Get going on this and leave the rest of Greater Wilmslow, Alderley Edge etc alone.
Isn’t our world famous peat bog of greater importance than an abandoned WW2 RAF camp?