PLANS for a 26 home estate in Goostrey have been resubmitted just 40 days after they were rejected because of concerns how the development would affect the nearby Jodrell Bank observatory.

In December 2013, the estate of S H Darlington, of Chelford Road, Somerford, submitted plans to build the homes on the 22,000sqm plot of land to the east of Hermitage Lane and south of the Nether Lea estate in the village.

But at the Northern Planning committee meeting held on March 19, Cheshire East Council members decided to reject the plans because they were ‘unsustainable and located within the open countryside’.

Members also heard that the development would have an ‘adverse impact upon the efficient operation of the Jodrell Bank Observatory’.

However, just 40 days the later the plans for the housing estate have been resubmitted – with the developers quoting Cheshire East Council’s much publicised failure to have a five-year housing supply quoted as the reason the homes should be built.

The planning statement adds: “This application was refused at committee in March due to the Local Authority asserting that they could demonstrate a five year supply of housing land supply at the time and therefore there were no material circumstances to indicate that permission should be granted contrary to the development plan.

“However, a recently successful appeal for new housing at Elworth Hall Farm, Sandbach has given precedent to the National Planning Policy Framework in terms of planning policy for determination of applications and rendered the Congleton Borough Local Plan housing policies out-of-date as the local authority have been proved not to have a deliverable five year housing land supply contrary to previous claim asserted by the Local Authority earlier in the year.”

The plans will go before a planning committee on July 2. Comments on the application can be made online by visiting cheshireeast.gov.uk.