Councillors have been advised to refuse plans to build six new office blocks with car parking and access at a site in Nantwich.
Applicants want to erect the new office development on land north of Alvaston Roundabout on Middlewich Road.
But planners at Cheshire East Council say the loss of open countryside outweighs the benefits and it should be declined.
The application site is a vacant piece of land to the north-east of Alvaston Business Park, with the Sacred Orchard pub to the south.
CEC’s landscape officer says the proposed office blocks would results in an unacceptable “urbanising effect”.
The officer added: “A change from a field to a built-up business park on this site, if viewed from the many positions around the area, from various receptors is in view of the council’s ecologist more than that of ‘Not Significant’.
“He considers these will be quite perceptible changes in the viewpoints even after 15 years, especially in the winter months.
“The proposals are therefore considered to result in a perceptible urbanising effect and will be significantly visible. They are certainly not hidden from public view after 15 years.”
In a report, council planners add: “It is not considered that the proposal has justified/requires an open countryside location and is not considered to be sited in the right location.
“The site is also not allocated for any development within the Site Allocations Development Policies Document (SADPD) and is shown as remaining within the open countryside.
“As a result the proposal would represent a departure from the Local Plan and should not be approved unless material considerations indicate otherwise.
“In this case, the development would provide positive planning benefits such as economic benefits during the construction phase and economic and social benefits associated with the proposed use.
“Balanced against these benefits must be the dis-benefits, which in this case would be the loss of open countryside and the visual harm by developing a site that is currently free from development. The loss of agricultural land.
“The Impact of the proposals on ecology, flood risk, highways would be neutral.
“As a result, on balance the benefits are not considered to outweigh the dis-benefits and there do not appear to be any material considerations which outweigh the harm caused. Therefore, the proposal should be refused.”
The application is to be discussed at the Southern Planning Committee on Wednesday August 30.
You can read the full planners report here
(Image by Google Maps)
Why’s nobody mentioning the traffic implications at a roundabout that already struggles to cope when Bentley chuck out?
A nother waste of money.
Let’s build a new doctor’s surgery or a NHS Dentistry.
Some bone head with his head in the cloud thinking what can we waste money on pathetic.,
Probably be 100 houses on there next year,this council are an utter shambles, look at the fields lost just of church lane wistaston, no issues about that apparently.
My advice would be to just increase the size of the brown envelope, that should grease the wheels of democracy.
Absolutely pathetic maybe these councillors need to think about all the fields that are having houses built on at the moment not enough schools not enough pleasure facilities not enough doctors they don’t think of that do they
Wot, no bung?
Pity they dont take the same stance about protecting countryside when it comes to building houses