Cheshire East approves solar farm and 325 Taylor Wimpey homes

Not so lucky were the housebuilder’s 405-home project in Moston and a proposal for an adventure golf course in Adlington. The former was deferred, while the latter was rejected by the council’s strategic planning board.

Leighton Grange Farm

Cheshire East Council has granted itself permission to build a solar farm on 30 acres of agricultural land, along with associated security and other infrastructure. This includes fencing, CCTV, and a 25MW battery storage.

The solar panels would have a capacity of 5MW – enough to power more than 1,350 homes a year. They would also be raised, so that after 40 years (the projected lifespan of the panels) they could be removed and the land could go back to being used agriculturally.

The farm will be located off Middlewich Road on a site adjacent to an organic waste recycling facility.

ADAS is the planning consultant for the scheme.

Looking to learn more about this project? The application’s reference number with Cheshire East Council 21/4490N.

Cheshire East councillors voted to defer the application for homes on Glebe Farm. Credit: via planning documents

Glebe Farm

Taylor Wimpey will have to wait on a result for its reserved matters application for 405 houses on nearly 38 acres of agricultural land in Moston, after councillors voted to defer.

Councillors said they wanted a revision of the housing mix and additional information on the drainage plans for the site.

Located on Booth Lane, the scheme would be mostly made up of 2.5-storey houses consisting of 12 one-bedroom, 47 two-bedroom, 269 three-bedroom, and 77 four-bedroom homes. Of those homes 41 would be available for affordable rent, including four four-bedroom properties.

The reserved matters application also called for a single-storey convenience store.

Outline approval was granted in 2018 for the project. Officers had recommended the council approve the application, despite objections from Middlewich Town Council and Moston Parish Council regarding concerns over traffic and lack of infrastructure.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “Whilst we are disappointed with the decision to defer our reserved matters planning application for Glebe Farm, we remain committed to working with Cheshire East Council to review and revise our plans before the application goes back to committee.”

Lichfields is the planning consultant for the project, which was designed by DGL Associates. Trevor Bridge Associates is the landscape architect. The Environment Partnership is the ecology consultant. Croft is the consultant for highways and transport and Hepworth Acoustics handles noise.

Looking to learn more about this project? The application’s reference number with Cheshire East Council is 20/5700C.

277 of the new homes will be for market. Credit: V-Real Visualisation

Land west of David Whitby Way

Taylor Wimpey found success for its reserved matters application for 325 homes in Weston. This comprised the residential element of a wider project involving a health centre, offices, restaurants and more, which had secured outline approval in 2016.

The 325 houses would range from detached to semi-detached to terraced and would have between one and four bedrooms. Of the 325 houses, 277 would be market homes while 98 would be designated affordable. All the homes would have timber frames.

Taylor Wimpey’s development also includes play areas, a central park, private gardens and a community orchard.

The construction period for the scheme is expected to last four years after work starts on the site.

A Taylor Wimpey spokesperson said: “We are very pleased with the committee’s resolution to delegate approval of the scheme on land off David Whitby Way. We have worked closely with planning officers at Cheshire East Council to ensure that the scheme provides high-quality design, landscaping and place making principles, whilst respecting Basford Brook and the ecology within the site.”

Avison Young is the planning consultant for the project. GTD is in charge of the masterplan, while Randall Thorp handles landscape and DJS coordination. The Environment Partnership is the ecology consultant. Landpro Services is the heritage consultant. Hepworth Acoustics is handling noise mitigation. Eddisons is the highways consultant.

Looking to learn more about this project? The application’s reference number with Cheshire East Council is 21/4434N.

Barnes Walker designed the landscape plans for Adlington Adventure Golf Course. Credit: via planning documents

Adlington Golf Centre

Perhaps the third time will be the charm, after Adlington Golf Centre’s proposal for an Adventure Golf Course was rejected for a second time. Councillors voiced their objections to the plan based on the impact it could have on Green Belt, for even though golf courses are an acceptable development on the protected land, the adventure course has structures that gave the councillors pause.

The golf course was set to be located on 11 acres of land within the North Cheshire Green Belt. The land is currently part of Adlington Golf Course and had made up a portion of the club’s nine-hold graduate golf course. That course is no longer viable, after part of the land the course sat on was acquired through a compulsory purchase order for the building of the Poynton Relief Road.

Since the nine-hold graduate golf course is no more, Adlington was seeking to repurpose the remaining land into a new attraction – the City Golf-designed Adventure Golf Course. The course would have been Australian themed and included structures depicting a variety of Australian icons such as the Sydney Opera House and Uluru. It also called for a small “shack” structure to act as a sales office.

Adlington had adjusted the height of the opera house and Uluru structures in its second application, also adding more landscaping elements to help diminish the visual impact of the scheme.

Council planning officers had recommended the application for rejection, despite receiving more than a hundred notes in favour of the plan.

Emery Planning is the planning consultant for the project. Barnes Walker is the landscape architect.

Looking to learn more about this project? The application’s reference number with Cheshire East Council 21/2589M.