Rethink for 1,000-home Macc scheme due to peat concerns
Cheshire East Council has said plans to redevelop a 136-acre peatland site in partnership with housebuilder Barratt cannot go ahead as planned as the scheme does not align with the authority’s priorities around nature and sustainability.
The South Macclesfield Development Area, located off Congleton Road between the town centre and Gawsworth, has planning permission for 950 homes and a link road.
However, there has been substantial opposition to the project due to the presence of peat under the site, of which the council owns 55%, and the environmental impact of developing on it.
Barratt controls most the remainder of the site and has been working up plans for its redevelopment in recent years.
However, a series of investigations have “highlighted the challenge of reconciling delivery of the current proposals for the whole site with the council’s policies and aspirations around nature, sustainability, and carbon”, a council report said.
Peatlands are known to absorb carbon, reduce flooding, and provide habitats for wildlife.
As a result of recent findings, alternative options for the site are being explored, including a “smaller scale of development [that] might strike an acceptable balance between housing and environmental policies”, the council said.
At a meeting next week, the council is expected to approve a decision to withdraw all outstanding reserved matters planning applications relating to the site and pull out of a £34m grant funding agreement with Homes England that would have paid for a link road to the site.
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Wow – that is going to be a big write off for Barratt Homes!!
By Bash the Housebuilder
The Council will do anything in their power to allow planning because it will rake in more COUNCIL TAX that’s why we’re FLOODED with NEW BUILD HOMES on every scrap of GREEN SPACE !
By Helen
Is this Danes Moss?
By Phoebe Spence
A waste of public funds again by CEC. This situation has been known about for years.
By Anonymous
At last some common sense. Can’t preach carbon neutral and then allow this.
By Anonymous
Write off although looks like their MADE partnership (Barratt, Homes England, Lloyds) is in discussions with Cheshire East to bring forward the housing at Handforth from an earlier report.
By Macc Lad
What does this do to Cheshire East five year supply and how does it impact other developments
By TJL
Danes Moss is so valuable as it is.
Apart from the peat it is a rare habitat
By Anonymous
Good. Peat should absolutely be kept in the ground and where at all possible, the surface habitat restored. Some of these lowland raised bogs have several metres worth of peat which generally accumulates at around 1mm per year (with 10m of peat being 10k years old). They store absolutely loads of carbon and often support rare or unusual biodiversity. Sites like this should absolutely not be developed and should be the focus of re-wetting, removing intensive agriculture, removal of invasive species and prioritise recreation, flood mitigation and nature conservation for which they are ideally suited.
By Peat Land
So in other words, they’ll come back asking for less larger houses to get return on investment, which means less, but probably no affordable homes or infrastructure, some might say an idea given to the planning dept by the builders to get it across the line.
By Mr Two First Names