'Pick your battles' warning after housing refused

Sandbach is currently home to around 11,000 residents, with plans for 160 homes and other facilities thrown out, despite planning officers' recommending approval be given

A council has been warned to "pick its battles" after refusing a controversial housing application despite planning officers' recommendation for approval.

Plans to build 160 homes, a care home and a community space for brass band Foden's, in Sandbach, were refused by councillors at Cheshire East Council.

Reasons for the refusal included the loss of agricultural land, the site entrance being close to a primary school and the impact on ancient woodland.

However, the council's head of planning warned councillors they would face more bids to develop green space because the area does not currently have a five-year supply of land required under government house-building targets.

Residents of Sandbach, which is known for its historic crosses, have protested over house-building schemes for the area

The scheme received objections from 136 local residents, the Woodland Trust and Sandbach Town Council, as well as the ward councillor for the area who spoke against the plans at the meeting.

However, head planner David Malcolm, warned there was a "real risk" of an appeal against the the decisions and said the reasons for refusal put forward by Conservative Stewart Gardiner were "not going to hold up in terms of scrutiny" during an appeal.

'Refusal is defensible'

"The government's clear aspirations for 1.5 million homes does put us very much on the back foot, professionally that's what I have to advise you, the weight of housing is considerable weight," he said.

"We'll need to pick our right battles going forward. I appreciate for local residents this is hard to take but this is the reality we're in at the moment."

Gardiner said however, he understood the difficulties officers faced as "government policy and our local plan do not currently align", but he felt the combination of the several reasons for refusal would provide the authority with a "defensible position".

Another scheme proposed for Sandbach has attracted a number of objections

Sandbach has a population of around 11,000 and two further large-scale developments have been put forward.

An application recently submitted, for 325 homes off Manor Road, has also received a number of objections.

Meanwhile, an environment impact assessment was recently lodged for a potential 920 new homes, off Hind Heath Road.

'Motorway queues bad'

In the town centre, in the shadow of the town's historic crosses, Kate Marsland said it would be a "shame" if too many houses were added to Sandbach, because she loves the "countryside but town balance".

"I would hate for it to be too much pressure on the town and a lot of the infrastructure become overloaded, because we're near the motorway and the queues are bad enough," she said.

She acknowledged it can be difficult to find suitable space for new homes.

"You've got to be finding the right land for it, but if they're needing these new homes then they need to put the money into new infrastructure," Ms Marsland said.

Sylvia and Stuart Evans have concerns about the various plans in the town

Meanwhile Sylvia Evans, also in the town centre, said some of the developments were "overkill".

"Sandbach has built more than its fair share of new houses," she said.

"They continue to build and they're swallowing up all the countryside. They don't build the infrastructure to go with it, there's no extra doctors, no extra parking, no extra schools."

She added that she would like to see empty homes brought back into use, highlighting one in their area that has been empty for almost a decade.

"It doesn't help a lot, but it helps", husband Stuart said.