Villagers fighting plans to build a 127-home estate in Audlem say the scheme is too big, in the wrong place and will make the existing traffic chaos even worse, writes Belinda Ryan.
Muller Property Group has applied for outline permission for the homes, which includes 38 affordable, on 9.3 hectares of undeveloped farm and grazing land on the south-western edge of the village.
Access is proposed off Tollgate Drive and Moorsfield Avenue.
Nearly 140 letters of objection have been sent to Cheshire East calling for the application to be refused.
Two have been sent in support of the proposal. Objectors claim the scheme is totally unsustainable.
One said: “The site is simply way too big, and in the wrong place and with insufficient, safe access and facilities in the village to support the traffic or the medical needs and local support services required for the extra population.
“It would negatively alter the village forever, making it an overcrowded, polluted and traffic-choked bottleneck even worse than it already is today.”
Another said: “The proposal to have Moorsfield Avenue and Tollgate Drive as access roads for an estate of this size is not feasible.
“Both these roads are too narrow and were never meant to deal with the volume of vehicles that will be using the roads daily…
“Pedestrians walking from Moorsfield Avenue to Audlem are very vulnerable due to there being only one very narrow footpath…
“Vehicles are constantly mounting the footpath because the road is so narrow.”
Another objector said: “This proposal fails to meet Cheshire East Council’s, or the UK government’s aim of building homes where they are needed.
“We don’t have large numbers of local employment opportunities, and the public transport provision is very limited, meaning anyone moving into the village will need to commute out to work.
“The only bus we have, which has recently been reinstated after being axed for several months, runs on a very limited timetable and only to one local town, so is not suitable for commuting.”
The countryside charity CPRE has also objected to the proposal on several grounds, including it would intrude into the open countryside outside the Audlem settlement boundary.
It adds: “By harming views from the Shropshire Union Canal, the proposal would also cause harm to the open rural setting of this important heritage asset.”
The CPRE also raises concerns about the effect of the proposal on local wildlife, the loss of agricultural land and the traffic generation.
Audlem Primary School and The Cornovii Trust – the academy trust it is part of – have both written to the council supporting the application saying they have “long recognised the urgent need for more housing options, particularly affordable homes”.
They say: “This development presents a valuable opportunity to support the long-term sustainability of both our school and the wider community.
“New homes in the local area are essential to ensure healthy pupil numbers for the school, attract new families to Audlem and ensure Audlem St James CofE Primary continues to thrive as an integral part of village life.”
The application, number 25/2194/OUT, can be viewed on the planning portal on Cheshire East Council’s website.
The two comments in favour of the proposal are effectively from the same source. One is the Primary School and the other is from the Trust the Primary schools is in.
I would have said that there is a danger not only of flooding from the Weaver but also major problems with the run off of water into both the Canal and Weaver.
The bottom end of the field frequently has flooded a lot in recent times.
Does anyone know if there’s are flooding risks from the adjacent Shropshire Union canal and Weaver river? Recent issues in Middlewich (the failure of the canal bank and localised flooding) and in Nantwich (subsidence of the canal bank near the Nantwich Aqueduct) make this very relevant.
The application location shows that these works go right up to the River Weaver on the western side and ditto to the Shropshire Union canal on the northern side.