Ledsham Garden Village primary school tipped for sign-off

Cheshire West and Chester’s planning committee is also expected to approve Taylor Wimpey’s pitch for 110 homes in Tattenhall, and a 94-acre solar farm.

CWAC’s planning committee meets on Tuesday 7 July, with officers recommending approval for three major items.

Primary school, Little Sutton – application reference 26/01127/REM

Reserved maters approval is sought for a school on land at Sutton New Hall Farm, Ledshsm Road, called in by Cllr Peter Wheeler due to concerns over traffic and the massing of the building.

The site is within Redrow’s 260-acre Ledsham Garden Village, which was allocated for up to 2,000 homes in CWAC’s 2015 local plan, and now has more than 1,600 homes either built or consented.

CWAC itself is the applicant, working with a project team including Hive Projects, Cassidy & Ashton, ESD, JPS, and Fenton & Reece.

The proposed 315-place school would include within its provision a 26-place nursery and a 10-place special educational needs and disabilities facility. The plan is to open initially for 210 pupils and then a further 105 as the garden village’s population grows.

Approval is recommended, with conditions including parking and traffic measures and the securing of land adjacent to the school site as public open space.

Taylor Wimpey housing– application reference 25/02070/FUL

The housebuilder is looking to develop 110 homes off Chester Road, but the application has been called in by Cllr Mike Jones on the grounds of highways impact and possibly being contrary to the Tattenhall neighbourhood plan – although this is an emerging document, still to be examined.

The scheme would be an extension to the village. Credit: via planning documents

Taylor Wimpey’s site is 16.3 acres, and adjoins the Tattenhall settlement boundary, with access proposed to come from a single point on the northern side of Chester Road. Agricultural in use, it is close to the recent Millbrook Meadow residential development across Chester Road.

Full consent is sought for 10 one-bed homes, 22 two-beds, 37 three-beds, 34 four-beds and seven five-beds, with 33 affordable homes included. The application was deferred at CWAC’s 5 May meeting due to concerns over the housing mix, but will return to committee with the numbers unchanged, with officers reporting that the mix, although not “fully according with the most up to date housing needs assessment”, is policy-compliant.

The site has a long planning history, with plans for 110 homes first being lodged in 2012 and battled over back and forth as CWAC’s housing land supply moved up and down over time.

Chads Farm solar project – application reference 22/00224/FUL

A ground-mounted solar farm at this Tushingham site in Malpas ward is proposed by Renewable Connections Developments.

Potentially operational for up to 40 years, the applicant said the site could power up to 5,200 homes.

The site consists of agricultural land at Chads Farm, Barnhill Drive, within a level valley landscape associated with Grindley Brook and Llangollen Canal. The A49 lies to the east with A41 located on higher ground to the west.

The main development site comprises seven medium-scale fields. The majority of three fields would be used to accommodate solar panels, along with more than half of three other fields. The south-eastern field and central part of the site would be retained for ecological / wetland enhancement.

It also encompasses part of an agricultural field to the immediate east of the A41 and to the immediate south of Barnhill Drive, which is the point of connection to the electricity grid which runs parallel to the A41.