Javid refuses Tattenhall residential proposals
The Secretary of State has overturned three rulings by planning inspectors on housing developments in Cheshire, agreeing with the original decision by Cheshire West & Chester Council to refuse them in 2012.
At Chester Road, Barratt submitted a planning application five years’ ago for 68 homes on the site of Brook Hall Cottages. Also on Chester Road, Taylor Wimpey applied to build 110 houses on land near Adari. Nearby, Ashley Wall sought planning consent for 137 houses at Greenlands.
All three schemes were rejected by Cheshire West & Chester Council, on the grounds that they impacted on open countryside. Public inquires conducted by a Government planning inspector in 2013 and 2015 led the inspector to rule that the projects should be allowed, as the council couldn’t demonstrate enough homes in the pipeline to deliver a five-year housing supply for the area.
However, according to the decision letter released by the Secretary of State Sajid Javid’s office in regards to the Barratt application, the lack of five-year housing supply which formed the basis of the inspector’s decision has since been boosted by other developments in the area, with “a number of sites as deliverable which were not considered during the Tattenhall public inquiries”.
Cheshire West & Chester Council can now show a 5.25-year housing supply, equating to the construction of 7,991 homes across the borough.
The Secretary of State ruled that the planning applications conflict with the neighbourhood plan in place locally, and would result in “loss of open countryside and damaging effect on the landscape and rural setting of Tattenhall”.
A cynic might suggest that the Tory SoS has been sitting on an appeal decision for three sites in Tory heartland until such time that a 5 year housing land supply can be demonstrated. And I’m sure the timing of the decision, a day or so after the announcement of a snap general election, is purely coincidental.
By Gobsmacked
Housing crisis will never be fixed whilst politics is such an integral part of the decision making process
By Rob
Developers responsibility to work with Local Authorities to identify and secure sites is overlooked here. To most developers “LPA engagement” means finding a site themselves and battling it through the planning system.
By Rooney
Hopefully now, in redetermining plans to build houses on playing fields on Category 3 floodplain in Chester, his office will once again support the Planning Inspectorate and refuse the off-shore developer’s speculative scheme.
By Andy Scargill