Taylor Wimpey seeks Stockport success
An area committee is expected to recommend approval for the 160-home proposal, one of three developments advancing in the Jacksons Lane area of Hazel Grove.
Taylor Wimpey’s quest to establish outline consent for 160 homes will go before Stockport Council’s Stepping Hill area committee on 8 September, which will make recommendations ahead of it going to the council’s planning & highways committee.
The project appears before the Stepping Hill committee as it represents a departure from the development plan regarding Green Belt – an area Stockport is experiencing troubles with – and due to the strength of local opposition, with around 130 objections received.
Lichfields and eScape Urbanists are working with Taylor Wimpey, with plans worked up for around 27 acres – although 17 of these would be open space within the site parameters. The site is south of housing on Jacksons Lane and currently in agricultural use. The site is currently accessed from a gated track from Norbury Farm.
Half of the homes in the development would be classed as affordable, a point critical in the officer recommendation, in that meeting “evidenced unmet need for the type of housing proposed” is one of the points under which Green Belt development can be allowed.
Stockport’s current housing land supply as a whole stands at 1.77 years as per the latest recorded figure. The council fell short of the required levels in the government’s Housing Delivery Test, published in August.
The site is identified in the Stockport Unitary Development Plan Review as Green Belt, and has various other character area designations. Bellway is also working in the area, with plans submitted in January for 176 homes off Jacksons Lane – the firm has since also launched plans for a site off Chester Road.
Russell Homes meanwhile has a consent for housing and extra care facilities at nearby Stockport Rugby Club.
Along with the individual objections submitted to TW’s scheme, also opposed are the Friends of Ladybrook Valley, Hazel Grove High School and the South Manchester Badger Group. An online petition has been signed by 2,300 people, the officer report said.
Scheme documents can be seen on Stockport Council’s planning portal, reference DC/097509.
