A FIERCE battle to stop developers knocking down a Handforth house to provide access for a 250-home development has been lost by residents.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Cheshire East Council’s strategic planning board approved plans from Anwyl Homes to demolish 15 Hampson Crescent and build a temporary haulage road allowing lorries from to travel between the development and either Sagars Road or Meriton Road.

Campaigners fought against the loss of the greenbelt site in CEC’s local plan more than two years ago and more than 200 objections were sent to the council against the access, but the site was included and Anwyl was granted outline planning permission to build on it last year.

CEC officers had recommended the access plans for refusal, before changing their stance after receiving amended designs just days before the meeting – but Cllr Barry Burkhill, Independent Group member for Handforth, was unconvinced.

In a statement read out on his behalf, he questioned whether Sagars Road would be safe for lorries to travel on – with the road having a 7.5 tonne limit.

Cllr Burkhill said: “Objectors have asked that independent advice should be obtained to investigate the suitability of Sagars Road to carry 30 tonne HGVs – but this has not been done.

Knutsford Guardian:

“There is no indication as to who would be responsible for the possible damage that could result from the use of the weight-limited Sagars Road by HGVs and damages claimed by residents.”

Cllr Burkhill added that traffic coming into the site should come from Styal and Wilmslow to the west rather than from the ‘already congested’ centre of Handforth – and called on the committee to defer making a decision on the application for more details to come forward.

The Cheshire East mayor’s concerns were shared by Cllr Aled Brewerton, of Handforth Parish Council, who also warned councillors that pedestrian safety would be placed in ‘direct jeopardy’ if construction lorries were allowed to use the junction.

But Anna Relph, representing Anwyl Homes, told the committee that the impact of the site had already been ‘robustly assessed’ by CEC before it earmarked the site for 250 homes in the local plan in 2017 and again before it granted outline planning permission to the developer last year.

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She said: “The application before you today does not seek to amend that, it simply provides further detail in terms of how the approved access will be delivered.”

Ms Relph added that both Sagars Road and Meriton Road will be used to access the site so traffic will be split between the two, and no deliveries will be made to the site outside of school hours.

Cllr Brewerton claimed he had sought legal advice on the Sagars Road weight restriction and was told that construction vehicles would not be able to use the road.

Officers insisted the access could be approved and Anwyl would just use Meriton Road if it could not legally use Sagars Road – but some councillors wanted further clarification.

Cllr Steven Hogben, Labour, added: “I would not be happy supporting a decision that actually ended up contravening the law.”

However, Cllr Stewart Gardiner, Conservative, suggested the Sagars Road issue might not be a suitable planning reason to refuse permission for the access.

He also feared that the council would be going back on its previous decisions with the local plan and the outline permission if the access scheme was rejected.

Cllr Gardiner said: “If a site has been allocated there needs to be good reason for the permission to be retracted and I don’t see that.

“You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. If a site has been allocated for development there will be some initial to short-term negatives.”

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Members voted to approve the plans by eight to four.

Work is due to begin on the access in September and is expected to last for less than six months.

Anwyl now needs to secure permission for a reserved matters application – which will include design details on its development – before it can begin work on building the houses.