Poynton homes on former green belt approved
Cheshire East has given the go-ahead to an 120-home development by Ainscough Strategic Land on a former green belt site in Poynton, despite opposition from the local council.
The council’s strategic planning board granted outline permission for the project on 22 November. The 10.8 acre site off Chester Road was formerly designated as green belt but was reallocated as developable land under Cheshire East’s local plan.
As part of the approval, the developer is required to make a financial contribution to local schools and health facilities, as well as the Poynton Relief Road.
Ainscough plans to build 120 homes, 36 of which will be classed as affordable. Plans were approved despite objections from Poynton Town Council, which argued the site should not be developed until the Poynton Relief Road was completed.
The town council said the application also failed to address key matters of infrastructure, impact on local amenities, and affordable housing. The scheme also received 38 objections from local residents.
Turley acted as planner on the scheme.
John Brooks from Ainscough Strategic Land said there was “considerable developer interest” in the site, which will be brought to the market in the coming months.
“Poynton is a very appealing location and the site is well suited to delivering an attractive development of family homes,” he said.
“There is considerable pent-up demand in this part of Cheshire and we expect the site to prove very popular.”
Stephen Bell, head of planning North at Turley, added: “Poynton has had too few houses built for far too long, leading to severe affordability issues and an ageing population. It was critical that the Local Plan grappled with this and, finally, it did so.
“This site was an always seen by ASL and ourselves as a logical Green Belt release site as it performs limited Green Belt function and can be a seamless extension to the existing urban areas.”
It is the second major housing scheme in Poynton to be approved by Cheshire East in the past two months. In October, the council gave the green light to a 150-home development on a 13-acre greenfield site south of the town.
Poynton Town Council also opposed this scheme, arguing it would lead to “unacceptable” increases in traffic.
Why can’t planners require ne developments to tie into the existing street pattern? There are 2 existing streets that should allow access onto the scheme but they have been ignored. Does every developer think their scheme is so exclusive that they can’t possibly be seen to mix with their neighbours?
By sad
I would hazard a guess that those access points are ransomed by the developers of the existing houses……….
By Unaplanner
“Formerly designated as green belt but was reallocated as developable land under Cheshire East’s local plan”. Why do local authorities insist on taking away from the natural land some thing that will never exist again. I know its all part of the big plan but Poyntons shared space is increasingly shrinking into tarmac.This scheme smacks of developers money talks regardless of the consequence to the local community.
By CBA
Slowly, slowly the urban arms reach out and choke our precious greenbelt land. Why is the ageing population always to blame for the lack of housing? People live longer and the majority have contributed to the economy. There are so many brownfield sites out there – build on them instead of them being a blot on the landscape.
By A Cynical
CBA – To answer your question: because houses are needed, and they have to somewhere that people want to live. Poynton remains a small town and to suggest a few dozen houses will cause it to shrink into tarmac is hysterical.
By Glen
No idea why people are so obsessed with this ridiculous notion of greenbelt being some kind of sacred land that needs protecting. Its an out dated post war policy that does nothing but choke smaller communities and inflate house prices. Something like less than 15% of the country is “urban” that includes gardens, and the greenbelt is now LARGER than when it was originally implemented.
I suggest we stop this pointless virtue signalling and start thinking pragmatically about design and creating attractive living areas by incorporating green space within developments. Not choking developments with greenbelt.
By QuaysMan