LIBERTY Properties Developments has won the backing of planning officers for its plans to build 65 homes in Holmes Chapel.

The homes are earmarked for Manor Lane, and the scheme is recommended for approval at next week's meeting of Cheshire East Council’s Southern Planning Committee despite opposition from Holmes Chapel Parish Council.

Council planners say although the development would result in the loss of an employment site the land is vacant, and given the need for housing in Cheshire East and its nearness to the centre of Holmes Chapel, residential use was considered an acceptable alternative.

They are recommending approval of the housing scheme subject to a Section 106 agreement to secure a third of the development as affordable housing and £78,000 toward secondary and SEN education.

The suggested agreement would also require the provision of a 1,900 square metre on-site public open space.

Holmes Chapel Parish Council recognised the site has been vacant for some years, but said there was very little remaining brownfield land in the parish available for commercial and industrial use.

“The revised draft proposals for the Cheshire East Local Plan show a need for much more land for industrial and commercial use,” said the council.

“The parish has no other identified areas for industrial and commercial use, and if further development of this category is required there is only open countryside and green fields available.”

The parish council said there had been detailed housing applications approved since 2010 of 438 properties, and outline planning permission approved for a further 160 houses on a brownfield site – a total of 598, of which only 140 had been built to date.

“The additional housing expected to be delivered over the next five to seven years, based on current completion rates, will already place a severe pressure on the existing infrastructure and services provided in the parish,” added the council.

“There has been no consultation between the developer of this proposal and the parish council or the neighbourhood planning team, so no consideration of any matters associated with this development that will impact the already overstretched infrastructure of the village.”