A SCHEME to build 45 retirement homes on the site of the former Cypress House nursing home in Handforth has been rejected by Cheshire East councillors.

The plans would have seen the existing nursing home building, which has been vacant since 2006, demolished to construct 45 two-bedroom retirement homes in its place.

Councillors took the decision based on concerns over a lack of parking, which was also the basis of Handforth Parish Council’s objection to the proposal, which was submitted before the meeting.

The Parish Council’s planning chair, Brian Tolver, told the LDRS: “There are very few parking spaces for the number of premises that are going to be there.

“It’s quite a small site and… given they’ve got to provide space for staff and the like to be there it just seems completely inadequate.”

Those concerns were re-iterated at the planning meeting by Cllr Julie Smith and Cllr Barry Burkhill, with many other councillors echoing their sentiments — including Cllr Mannion who said: “We are a long way short of what we want to see of a quality development in Cheshire East in 2020.”

Normally, developments of this type are required to have 38 parking spaces, but only 23 were planned.

However, councillors heard that developer Churchill Retirement Living have provided more than it usually does, which it’s thought would not create too many parking issues.