150 homes approved for Wistaston

Outline permission has been granted for the development of up to 150 homes in Wistaston, Crewe, after an inspector found that concerns over green gap narrowing were overshadowed by housing need.Inspector Jonathan King noted that while the appeal had been made against the Cheshire East Council’s failure to provide a decision within the prescribed period, the council would have objected to the appeal on grounds including the use of best and most versatile (BMV) land, unsustainable development in open countryside and significant erosion to the green gap between the built up areas of Nantwich and Crewe.King reported that the gap in question was around 2.5km in width at its widest part, and acknowledged that the development would reduce this gap by 200 metres. However he deemed that this distance represented a “fairly small proportion” of the overall width of the gap, and thus the settlements would remain physically defined and separate “to an extent greater than in other parts of the gap”.The inspector noted that the 7.6-hectare site was not subject to any specific landscape designations, accepting the appellant’s views that the visual quality of the site was “moderate”. He also acknowledged the existing impact of urban influences on the site including a large above-ground sewage pipe and pylons, but did accept that the development would still “radically effect” the character of the site.While the council disagreed with the submitted Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment which deemed the visual impact of the proposal to be minor, King posed that it was “by no means unusual for landscape architects to reach differing conclusions because the input is unavoidably objective”. The parties did agree that such impact would be essentially local.King noted that the natural elements of the visual quality of a walkway along a brook in the site’s vicinity would be diminished, but ruled that on the whole the site was less visually sensitive than nearby locations that had been permitted for development.Issues relating to the use of 3.63-ha of BMV land and the impact on highway safety were ruled not to be determinative matters. The development was also deemed to be sustainable in its access to local amenities and alternative modes of transport.King acknowledged the council’s admittance to a persistent under delivery of housing in the past 6 years and its subsequent inability to deliver a five-year housing supply. The proposal would contribute 45 units of affordable housing which would go some way to addressing need in the area. While measures had been outlined in the council’s emerging development plan for some sites to be released from the green belt for housing purposes, it was suggested that the proposed level of housing growth would be inadequate to ensure the success of the overall economic, employment and housing strategy. Subsequently, King ruled that the development was acceptable “on balance”, subject to further planning details being agreed.