Council deals blow to 350-home plan in neighbouring borough
Applause greeted Knowsley Council’s decision to scupper Taylor Wimpey’s plans to redevelop a site on the border with Halton by refusing consent for access.
Halton Council had already granted planning permission to the volume housebuilder for the redevelopment of 35.5-acre site off Chapel Lane in Widnes in September.
Some 98% of the site is located within the borough of Halton, but that did not stop Knowsley Council blocking the plans due to concerns about highway safety related to the proposed vehicle access, a new T-junction located on the Knowsley side of the border.
Having analysed the proposals, Knowsley’s highways team had deemed them acceptable and the scheme was recommended for approval.
However, an alternative motion to refuse on safety grounds was put forward by Cllr Jayne Lonergan and carried.
The developer now has several options. It could appeal the refusal, seek to address Knowsley’s concerns, or attempt to move the access into Halton.
Taylor Wimpey’s project proposes 20% affordable provision but has faced a high level of opposition from the public on both sides of the border.
Despite its previous Green Belt designation, which some objectors alluded to, the land has now been allocated for housing under Halton’s local plan.
To learn more about the scheme, use the planning reference number 23/00244/OUT on Halton Council’s planning portal or 23/01037/OUT on Knowsley’s.
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A more ridiculous situation is hard to fathom. What on earth is Knowsley doing? When will Councillors realise that planning is a quasi-judicial role that requires decisions taken based on evidence and facts, and not on the whim of a locally elected member who is simply playing to the gallery. I’ve always supported local democratic oversight of decisions but the endless parade of local politics is making this less tenable. Dispiriting news, but at least its Friday!
By Rich
Short sighted by the council. The developer should appeal and I imagine they would win.
By Chris
This is typical of Halton Borough councillors to let housing be built anywhere in the borough, yet we have a dying town full of charity shops, no bus service that belongs to us and the residents wants and needs woefully lacking.
By Anonymous
Good to see partnership in action in the Liverpool City Region!
By Anonymous
Narrow minded Councillors deprive local people of affordable housing.
By Anonymous
There wouldn’t be anything affordable about these houses.
By Anonymous
Applause at c.£100k of tax payer money being flushed when TW come back for costs after winning appeal.
By Anonymous
Labour has been a disaster for Merseyside. To be fair to Manchester Labour they have took that region to another level. Liverpool can’t blame Thatcher or tories anymore.
By Tommy
This is literally just infill to the existing urban area, less than 1km from 2 train stations. Cannot see the grounds for refusal except Nimbyism.
By DenseCity
People who will be impacted by this development don’t want it. Nothing to do with city region relationships or labour…just local issue. Mind your own business if you don’t know what you are talking about.
By Anonymous
Local issue. Nothing to do with the Manchester versus Liverpool tribal rubbish (usually one sided) often seen on this websites comments.
By Anonymous
Densecity. Obviously you don’t know the area. One road in and out. 2 railway stations are at least 4km away not less than 1km. It’s not urban land either it’s farmland and part of what was
Once called green belt. Drive down the roads from the proposed site toward Warrington and there are multiple housing developments well on the way and adding pressure on roads, schools and healthcare. Area needs at least a pause for thought on new schools etc.
By Anonymous
What do these Members think they are going to gain from this? The appeal will be allowed and hopefully TW will hammer them for costs.
By Anonymous
The roads are already struggling to cope with sheer volume of traffic huge extension on college seeing coaches parked up everyday as the bus stop queue looks like a festival is happening narrow pavement means people are nearly in the road.Cronton lane not fit for that volume of traffic and to come out the Halton side would still caused huge congestion because the traffic would still need to go thru cronton eventually.Disgrace green being destroyed the town is just overwhelmed with new build and no infrastructure to support it.Affordable housing? Good luck with that one
By Susan Ireland
Excellent news – more of this please ! Less sprawl is needed, not more.
By John Smith
The reason knowsley refused the access (the development is going ahead) is because TW plans allow only one road in and out of the development onto a narrow lane between two blind bends which is both dangerous and would cause massive congestion. There is an alternative access point onto Queensbury Way which is in Halton and would be passed by their planning committee, but the strip of land required for this is owned by another developer and would cost TW more money. Halton will be receiving all the income (council tax etc) from the development so should either compulsorily purchase the access strip or contribute to the purchase price. Knowsley will get no benefit so why would they vote for disruption and maintenance costs? Halton and TW need to sort it themselves
By Anonymous