Wistaston councillor brands 660-home plans “devastating” for village

A Wistaston councillor has branded the approval of plans for a huge 660-home development on green fields near the village “devastating” news.

Ward Cllr Margaret Simon and representatives from Wistaston Parish Council vociferously objected to the plans by Harworth Estates at the Cheshire East Council strategic planning board.

But councillors narrowly voted to approve it by one vote, with the board’s chair from Middlewich applying a casting vote.

Cllr Simon said: “We tried our very best to defend the Wistaston Green Gap at Cheshire East’s Strategic Planning Board.

“We wanted a refusal, or at the very least, deferment in order to try to achieve a better deal for Wistaston residents.

“Astoundingly, Ward councillors from the adjacent Crewe West Ward, Cllrs Marilyn Houston (Labour) and Ben Wye (Labour) moved and seconded ‘approval’ of this very controversial outline planning application for 660 homes to be built on land between Wistaston Green Road and Middlewich Road.

“When the vote was taken the result was fpur for approval, four against and one abstention.

“Therefore acting chairman Cllr Garnett Marshall (Middlewich Independent) had the casting vote and effectively stole another tract of Crewe and Nantwich’s precious Green Gap.

“We tried our hardest for you but were really up against the clock having only five minutes between us to convey all that was wrong with this application.”

The plans will see 660 new homes and a 60-bed care home in the open countryside, including a neighbourhood centre, on a 44-hectare site to the east of Middlewich Road.

It will be accessed by a new three-arm roundabout on Wistaston Green Road.

About 120 residents objected to the proposal and were backed at yesterday’s (Wednesday) strategic planning board meeting (SPB) by Cllr Simon and Cllr Alan Coiley as visiting members.

Cllr Simon told the meeting: “660 homes accessed from a new roundabout on an already over-used, narrow country land which is prone to flooding is a recipe for disaster.

“Because of its location this development would not, as stated [by the applicant] enhance the regeneration of Crewe, its new residents would gravitate towards Nantwich for both schools and shopping.”

Cllr Coiley raised concerns about highways, including the need to reduce the speed limit to 20mph, the impact on wildlife and the need for any money from the developer to be spent in Wistaston.

David Diggle, the planning agent representing The Harworth Group, told the SPB: “Cheshire East currently has a significant shortfall in deliverable housing land, and this creates an urgent need to approve sustainable housing proposals now.”

He said the scheme included 198 affordable homes, significant highways and active travel improvements and more than 20 hectares of green infrastructure.

But his later response to questions about sustainability left Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston ‘flabbergasted’.

She asked what research had been done to suggest people in the new development on the edge of Wistaston and close to Nantwich would go to Crewe.

“On what planet would anybody think that someone would rent a bike and cycle to Crewe?” she asked.

Cllr Houston (Lab) also raised highways concerns saying: “I think that the access is going to be very, very problematic.

“I’m even minded to defer, if it possibly could be, to look at the build-up of traffic on Wistaston Green Road, and the very obvious need for a widening of that road.”

But the Crewe councillor said because the council doesn’t have a five-year housing land supply “it is very difficult for us to look at opposing an application like this”.

“I think previously we would have wanted to, because of the green gap and the loss of agricultural land etc, so I find myself in a very difficult situation,” she said.

Prestbury councillor Thelma Jackson said the development should not be built on farmland “which is so important to our lives”.

She added: “There are so many brownfield sites that need doing, but it’s more expensive, so they don’t do it. It’s easier to dig a hole in a green field.”

The application had been recommended for approval by planning officers, and head of planning David Malcolm said he sensed reluctance from councillors to move approval.

“I appreciate the concerns… it’s really difficult for members, and residents particularly, who are having to endure these applications on their doorsteps, but government policy is absolutely clear at the moment, in terms of the drive for housing,” said Mr Malcolm.

Cllr Houston moved the outline application be approved, subject to conditions, and this was seconded by Crewe councillor Ben Wye (Lab).

(Additional reporting by Belinda Ryan, local democracy reporting service)