Rural housing scheme passed

Peaks & Plains Housing Trust has won planning consent from Cheshire East Council to build 14 affordable homes in the village of Ollerton near Knutsford.

Partner Construction has been appointed to deliver the project, which the council allowed despite being within Green Belt. The planning committee chose to use 'rural exceptions' criteria in national planning policy, which aims to reduce the cost of housing where local people are priced out of the market.

The development will benefit from funding from the Homes & Communities Agency and Peaks & Plains will offer the completed properties for affordable rent.

Leon Armstrong, senior planning consultant at Mosaic Town Planning, advising Peaks & Plains, said: "By their very nature rural exception sites are contentious, but it is necessary to weigh up the concerns of residents most opposed to development against the identified need for the village affected. By approving this scheme, Cheshire East has helped to ensure that young people who have previously been priced out of their village can now afford to live in an area where they were raised.

"Although Ollerton would not be considered a sustainable location for market housing, the scheme is aimed at people already in the locality and will contribute to the vitality of the village.

"The site is within an otherwise developed frontage and would form a logical infill development. It is clearly preferable to the suggested alternatives of building on a recreation ground or a peripheral expansion into open countryside."

Partner Construction expects to start on site early in 2012.