The nightmare is finally over for hundreds of residents who have been living on a South Cheshire housing estate with no planning permission because of massive failings by Cheshire East Council and developer Countryside Partnerships.
Countryside was given permission to build the 263-home Coppenhall Place on the former Bombardier site in Crewe in 2018.
But because the developer failed to deal with a condition relating to contaminated land, the original planning consent was rendered void.
Two applications submitted to Cheshire East in 2023 to seek regularisation of the development to try and resolve the matter were deferred.
Today (Wednesday) the council’s strategic planning board approved the application, subject to stringent conditions, meaning for the first time in more than two years the estate now has planning permission.
But the council’s planning officers and the developer were left in no doubt about how councillors and residents felt regarding their massive failings.
Ward councillor Roger Morris (Con) said: “For two years, residents have lived in limbo because planning conditions were not enforced from the outset.
“They were promised peace of mind.
“Instead, they faced serious questions about the safety of their gardens and green spaces…
“Some are even afraid to leave their homes, not just because of their gardens, but because they know their home insurance wouldn’t cover them if anything went wrong.
“That’s not just financial risk, that’s a serious strain on mental health.
“This fear has left people isolated, anxious and scared of losing everything they’ve worked for.
“Let me be clear, this situation should never have happened.
“There was no early enforcement. Oversight was weak, and residents paid the price.
“The developer too often promised one thing and delivered another.”
Cllr Morris was scathing of the council’s actions – or lack of – and said local residents David Simcox and Claire McLellan “effectively did the council’s job, chasing answers, updating neighbours”.
Resident Mr Simcox, who has worked with Mrs McLellan and the council’s environmental protection officers as well as Ed Whalley from Countryside, to get the matter resolved, said: “This application exists because the council and the developer failed in their basic duties.
“We support it today because, for the first time, all parties, including residents, have agreed with this remedial strategy.”
But he told councillors: “To give residents confidence, we need legally enforceable conditions or a section 106 in place, because we’ve all seen what happens when Countryside wasn’t held to account.”
Mr Simcox said residents objected to a condition which referred to the gardens as contaminated, saying they believed that to be “wrong and damaging”.
“There is no chemical contamination on our site,” he said, adding: “Our gardens are probably actually the most tested and cleanest in Cheshire East.”
Mrs McLellan told of the impact having no planning permission had had on the residents.
“We’ve lived in limbo now for two years unable to sell, re-mortgage or even decorate due to no insurance.
After two years of being trapped in unsellable homes, enough is enough.”
Countryside managing director Joe Turner apologised several times during the meeting for his company’s failings.
“The residents have endured a difficult and uncertain situation for which we wholeheartedly apologise,” said Mr Turner.
He told the meeting: “We’ve received approval of the environmental health officers on the remedial requirements for each and every garden on the site.
“Work is well under way in rectifying issues and, as of today, we have completed 57 per cent of the work, and we are forecasting that the remaining garden replacement work will be completed by the end of June 2025.”
There was no apology from Cheshire East Council’s planning department.
Cllr Steve Edgar (Haslington, Con) moved the application be approved saying he had severe reservations on the previous two occasions but “I think there’s been enough done on this now to make it cast iron”.
It was seconded and approved with nine councillors voting in favour and one against.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Simcox told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This is the end of the nightmare.
“Some of the residents have been wanting to move out of their homes, some want to downsize or upsize and they couldn’t do that so residents are now really satisfied the planning has gone through.
“Every resident on the estate today was asking for us to try and get this approved.
“The remediation plan which has been put forward, the work on site in the past three months has been tremendous and we’ve seen massive improvements and the developer is really working hard to get it fixed.”
Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said there has been so much negative comment on social media which had added to their misery.
“It will just be good now that we can say we’ve got planning permission and there is no problem,” she said.
(Story and image by Belinda Ryan, local democracy reporter)
There was no apology from Cheshire East Council’s planning department. Absolutely disgusting behaviour from planning department.