Bloor beats Cheshire East in 325-home Sandbach appeal

The Planning Inspectorate has found in favour of the housebuilder and overturned the council’s decision to reject plans for the redevelopment of 47 acres off The Hill.

Bloor Homes has come out on the right side of an inquiry that was held in April following Cheshire East Council’s decision to reject Bloor Homes’ 325-home Sandbach plan last year.

After a four-hour debate, the council’s planning committee went against the recommendation of its officer team to reject the proposals. Members claimed Bloor had failed to provide evidence that the scheme’s impact on the grade two-listed Hill House, Oakley House, and the Leonard Cheshire Home, located nearby, had been mitigated.

They decided that the “adverse impacts of the proposal on the setting of the designated heritage assets would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the public benefits of providing housing”.

The planning inspector in charge of the inquiry disagreed, saying: “the extent and scale of the public benefits, especially the boost to housing supply and the provision of [affordable housing] would be overriding and of sufficient weight to outweigh the less than substantial harm in each of the heritage balances”.

The inspector did concede that there would be “moderate harm caused to the character and appearance of the area” and limited harm from the loss of good quality agricultural land.

However, crucial to the outcome of the appeal was Cheshire East’s current housing land supply position. The council can only demonstrate 3.3 years against a target of five, which put the authority on the back foot during the inquiry as this factor tips the balance in favour of approval.

Read the full decision notice by searching for reference number 3377118 on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.