Senior living and resi clear Cheshire East committee
A Macclesfield care home and 200 Sandbach homes have been rubber-stamped by the council’s strategic planning board, along with housing and a retirement complex at Maylands Park, Nantwich.
Approval was recommended by officers for all four schemes, and all were approved at a lengthy meeting on 28 May.
Muller Property Group is promoting both schemes within Stapeley, south of Nantwich, working with McCarthy Stone on the 49-apartment retirement complex, and Anwyl Homes on a 40-home proposal.
Colin Muller, chief executive of Muller Property Group, commented: “We’re delighted to have received approval for these two residential schemes, which not only bring forward much-needed housing – including specialist retirement living and affordable homes – but also demonstrate our ongoing commitment to delivering high- quality, sustainable development in Cheshire East.
“These projects will bring lasting benefits to the community, both socially and economically.”
Retirement living, land off Peter Destapleigh Way, Stapeley – 24/4223/FUL
Muller Property Group and sector specialist McCarthy Stone sought full permission for 49 homes in a retirement complex, as part of a mixed-use scheme approved following appeal at Secretary of State level in 2020.
Bower Mattin, Asteer Planning, and TPM Landscape are working on the project.
Part of the wider Maylands Park consent – where an 80-bed care home is also in the works, for determination at a future committee – the site was cleared for commercial development as part of the appeal.
The site had been controversial as it sits outside the settlement area boundary in open countryside at the southern edge of Nantwich, however as officers note Cheshire East has a need both to address housing supply in general and senior accommodation in particular.
Approval was recommended pending a Section 106 agreement securing a contribution to offsite affordable homes.
Residential development off Peter Destapleigh Way – 24/4242/FUL
Muller is working with Anwyl Homes on this project, where full permission was sought for 40 homes – as with the retirement complex parcel, the principle of development having been established at appeal.
The applicants propose 30% affordable homes, and the site is described as sustainable, being on the edge of a ‘key service centre’ with access to services. APD has designed the scheme.
Along with the retirement complex and care home, this plot is part of the Maylands Park second phase given outline consent at appeal. Phase one now has reserved matters approval for 188 homes. A spine road for the phase two site has already been constructed.
Old Mill Road, Sandbach – 24/4287/FUL
Anwyl Homes is going it alone on a 204-home project off Old Mill Road, Sandbach, an area that has seen various proposals come forward in recent years, several by Muller. Along with the homes and landscaping, the proposals include a new vehicular access from the A534 roundabout.
Officers noted in the summary for members that the highways implications are considered to be acceptable, noting that the roundabout and spine road were approved, following appeal, as part of a previous Muller application.
Further, said officers “due to the increased cost of the off-site highway works, there would be a reduction in the affordable housing provision” adding that the local authority’s housing officer has no objection to this.
The site is made up of two parcels of land, either side of the A534, amounting to a combined 19.6 acres. The eastern part, which is within the Sandbach settlement boundary, will be used for housing, and the western, which is open countryside, will be used for ecological enhancements.
The breakdown of homes is 39 one-bedroom, 25 two-bedroom, 87 three-bedroom and 53 four-bedroom homes. Three options were put forward for affordable homes, with the housing officer selecting an option for 20% (40 homes), made up of 25 one-bed flats, nine two-beds and six three-beds.
Both Sandbach Town Council and Hassall Parish Council objected to the proposals, the latter claiming that compared to earlier plans, the scheme is “wall to wall roofscapes and car parking”.
The project was approved, with an additional overage clause added to the Section 106 agreement.
Macclesfield care home – 24/0999M
Torsion Care, working with Den Architecture, wants to build a 74-bed care home in Macclesfield town centre, at the Towers and Progress Mill site off Parsonage Street.
Officers recommend approval, observing that “this proposal would bring a prominent vacant brownfield site into viable use on one of the key gateways into Macclesfield town centre”.
Planning permission was previously granted for a Lidl food store on the site, which was never built, although the buildings referred to in the site name were cleared in the process.
The care home – in design terms, reflecting the “mill-like” appearance of the area according to officers – would provide residential care for older persons in need as well as specialist dementia patient care.
The application was approved unanimously. Enabl advised on planning.
Torsion Care’s Macclesfield proposal replaces approved retail at the cleared site. Credit: planning documents
