Cheshire East Council approves 138-home Holmes Chapel scheme

Cheshire East Council’s strategic planning board gave Anwyl Homes the green light to build 138 properties at the Victoria Mills site, in Macclesfield Road, at Wednesday’s meeting.

The long-awaited scheme – first submitted to the former Congleton Borough Council in 2008 – will see wallpaper manufacturer Fine Décor relocate from the site to Congleton.

But while some councillors had concerns about the development’s access and small number of affordable homes, the committee’s hands were ultimately tied due to previous planning decisions made for the site over the last 11 years.

Cllr Les Gilbert, Conservative CEC member for Dane Valley, welcomed the plans as a way of losing ‘an outdated factory’ and praised Fine Décor’s ‘good sense of corporate social responsibility’.

But he had concerns about the access to the site from Macclesfield Road, which was agreed in 2012, and asked CEC to consider a mini roundabout instead.

Cllr Gilbert said: “The problem is its location and the face that it adds a T-junction to the busy Macclesfield Road.

“It’s very busy in peak periods and traffic waiting to turn right into this development will hold up following traffic and possibly cause tailbacks.”

Holmes Chapel Parish Council also argued that the scheme is now out of date, with a traffic assessment conducted by the developer before the first plans were submitted in 2008.

Cllr Brian Bath, chairman, added: “Holmes Chapel is going to grow by more than 35 per cent since 2010. We accept this number but we want to see some better infrastructure.”

The scheme includes a mix of housing from bungalows to four-bedroom properties – with four affordable one-bedroom flats and three affordable two-bedroom houses.

The original plans approved in 2012 required 15 per cent affordable housing along with Fine Décor’s relocation within Cheshire East – but that figure was twice cut down to five per cent.

Councillors were told that it would not be viable for Anwyl Homes to provide more affordable housing, as it is contributing £2 million for clearing contaminated land from the site and a further £1 million towards Fine Décor’s relocation.

Anthony Garnett, managing director at Fine Décor, urged the committee to give the green light without delay.

He said: “This has been unsettling for everyone in the business – it has cost us money and held us back. Our patience is really running out and we have reached the end of the road.

“Our move is totally reliant on financial contributions from the sale of Victoria Mills for housing. Relocating the business will cost many millions, however the benefits will be a real game changer.”

Officers explained to the committee that they could not change details over financial contributions, affordable housing or access as these were already agreed in the first ‘outline’ application and subsequent legal agreements.

Instead the committee could only comment on the design of the homes – and Conservative Cllr Steven Edgar admitted that left members ‘stuck between a rock and a hard place’.

Opening the debate, Cllr Steve Hogben, Labour, added: “This is an ancient application. Everyone is saying that if we were dealing with it now we would handle it differently.

“It does seem to be that we are dealing with a true legacy from a previous borough council – it is so long ago that the world has changed.”

But Cllr David Jefferay, independent, insisted he was ‘really struggling’ to support the scheme.

He said: “This is a new application and it should be bob on. It’s got so much wrong with it in terms of the layout.

“It’s going to leave Holmes Chapel with a development that has got really low affordability – it’s going to leave a car crash for Holmes Chapel.”

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Members approved the scheme by seven votes to one, with three abstentions.

Meanwhile, a proposal for 217 homes on former greenbelt land in Handforth which was due to be decided yesterday is now expected to go to next month’s meeting.