Revised decision due on former Cheshire hotel proposals

Plans to demolish and redevelop a former hotel in Cheshire, which had previously been earmarked for refusal, now look set to be given the go-ahead.The County Hotel in Alderley Edge closed almost ten years ago. Harden Park Gardens has put forward proposals to bring the site down and in its place build two residential blocks comprising 26 apartments.The application was set to go before planners at Cheshire East Council last month and had a recommendation of refusal. A number of concerns were raised including the plans not allocating “any on-site affordable housing provision for which there is a clear, proven need” with the justification for this being deemed “insufficient”.However, the proposals were pulled before the meeting.Now back before the authority’s planning committee, it has been recommended that the project be approved.A report to planners notes that the scheme would “add to the stock of housing” with its construction and occupation resulting in “social and economic benefits, albeit relatively minor”.