Tables turned on landowner with sheep museum plan

The residents hope planning submission for the sheep museum in London will force a dialogue about new homes in Halebank

Cheshire residents angry at plans to build 500 homes in their village have applied to turn the landowner’s London mansion into a sheep museum.

Residents from Halebank, in Widnes, said a lack of consultation about the plans on their doorstep prompted them to submitted a change-of-use application to Westminster Council to transform the home of wealthy socialite Catherine Hesketh into a rare-breed heritage centre.

Friends of Halebank spokesman Terry Colquitt said: "It’s a shame that it has come to this, but maybe [Ms Hesketh] will now understand what it’s like for someone living 200 miles away to submit a planning application that could dramatically change the place you call home."

A representative of Catherine Hesketh’s estate has declined to comment.

Rare-breed Ryeland sheep currently graze on a smallholding next to site of the planned homes

Controversial plans to build the homes was narrowly approved by the local planning committee earlier this year.

Parish councillor John Anderton, a member of the Friends of Halebank campaign group, said the community is not opposed to new housing to meet local needs, but current plans would double the size of a village, which has a limited infrastructure and very poor road connectivity.

“The community has reached out to Catherine Hesketh and the family for dialogue to see whether we can find a reasonable and mutually-agreeable compromise - but we have been completely ignored,” he said.

John Anderton said the planned homes would double the size of Halebank village

The Halebank group’s application to Westminster Council states the proposed sheep museum would be "a captivating celebration of our ovine brothers and sisters", complete with a pen for shearing demonstrations and a rooftop sheep statue.

The application to transform the four-storey town house, near London's Hyde Park, is unlikely to succeed, but has been undertaken to try to force open a dialogue with developers, campaigners said.

It is possible to apply for planning permission on land that you do not own.

Former Halton Borough Councillor Jon Egan said a "historic quirk" in the planning system had allowed residents to submit the museum plan

The group said the decision to submit plans for a heritage centre for rare breed sheep gives weight to the "devastating effect" the new development would have on local farming businesses.

Sandra Lawson, who raises rare-breed sheep on a smallholding that will be completely surrounded by the new housing development, said: "This development will make it impossible for me to carry on my business.

"But it is also taking out an enormous chunk of the last bit of open countryside on this side of the Mersey Estuary."

A representative of Harworth Group development company, which is set to build the houses, said the site will deliver much needed affordable homes and jobs.