Lane End, Onward await consent for £66m Basford East

Cheshire East Council expects to approve plans for the 450-home scheme east of David Whitby Way, after Onward Homes bought the site from Lane End Group for an undisclosed sum last summer. 

Lane End secured outline planning approval for the project near Crewe in 2014 and will act as contractor for housing association Onward Homes following the freehold sale last May, should the council give the plans the green light. 

Of the 450 homes, 123 are to be designated as affordable and the remaining units, a mix of houses and apartments, will be available for market sale. The development would also feature around 14 acres of public space. 

The homes would be delivered in phases over the next five years and the first phase, which could start on site next month subject to approval, will feature around 160 units available on a mix of tenures.

Onward and Lane End’s scheme is part of the wider Basford East masterplan, which includes plans to convert Crotia Mill Farm into a mixed-use scheme and provision for a further 325 houses, along with 110,000 sq ft of office and business space. 

Muse Developments and charity the Witter Trust secured planning permission for this part of the site in 2015, before selling 23.5 acres of land to Government agency Homes England in 2018. 

PRP Architects is the architect for the David Whitby Way project and Urban Green is the landscape architect. 

The civil engineer is Alan Johnston Partnership. 

Cheshire East Council will decide whether to approve the project when its planning committee meets next Wednesday. 

Richard Harrison, managing director of Lane End Group, said the scheme would address an “overwhelming need” for houses in the North West and provide “quality affordable homes on a mix of tenures, creating a genuine feeling of community.”

Sandy Kelly, head of sales at Onward Living, said: “Basford East is a proposal for a new community that meets the full range of local housing aspirations. It is a Local Plan-led development that will help first time buyers into home ownership and deliver 123 affordable homes, more than required by Council policy.”