Housing development approved off Rush Green Road

A proposal to build 108 dwellings and a primary health facility in Lymm on Green Belt land has been given the go-ahead by the planners.

The application was opposed by 90 individuals, Lymm Parish Council and local councillors.

Cllr Marks spoke at the planning meeting held in the Town Hall against the proposal:

Our main contention is that 'Very Special Circumstances' have not been demonstrated to justify the harm to the Green Belt. Fast-tracking the planning process for the medical centre is not a reason for granting this application.

My original objection focused on the prematurity of this application in advance of the Local Plan being agreed. Unfortunately, since then, the Plan Inspectors' preliminary findings allow this land to be released from the Green Belt, so the prematurity argument carries less weight although it is still valid. Michael Gove has muddied the waters by announcing he will be proposing legislation to change the standard method of calculating housing need by allowing local councils to decide on local housing numbers.

We welcome the medical centre but question whether it is in the right place. There is no problem if you have a car but there is, if you elderly, disabled or must walk or use public transport. Together with all the new homes it will generate more traffic on a narrow Rush Green Road about which I already get endless complaints about highway and pedestrian safety, made worse by narrow pavements and HGVs.

The three-storey apartment block by the Canal is outrageous and totally out of keeping. It will detract in a serious way from views over the countryside. Residents have concerns about flooding, ecology and biodiversity. There is insufficient provision for badgers and the wildlife corridor and there are objections to the removal of hedgerows. Development on this site would destroy the semi-rural nature of the area and lessen the separation between the settlements of Lymm and Oughtrington.

After the meeting, Cllr Marks added: In Saturday's national Times newspaper, the front-page headline is 'Housing targets scrapped'. Over fifty councils have now abandoned the production of their Local Plans because of Michael Gove's decision to no longer insist on mandatory targets. There are risks of a developers' 'free for all' if Warrington also stopped its Local Plan preparation process. I would not support this, but I strongly urge the Council to reduce its housing targets thereby stopping the need to build on Green Belt sites like this one.