LAND owners are hoping their revised plans for a replacement house for Legh Road in Knutsford will find favour with the public and planners.

Mr and Mrs M Rowe have submitted revised proposals to Cheshire East Council for a detached four-bedroom house at The Owls.

The submission follows the recent withdrawal of an application submitted in April which similarly sought to build a house on what is now a cleared site.

Agents for Mr and Mrs Rowe said the applicants remained ‘genuinely committed to a higher level of design quality, as well as customising all aspects of the new dwelling’s configuration, to better align with their family’s needs and desires’.

The agents said: “This reflects that the dwelling is being pursued as the family’s long-term home.

“Consequently, permission for a new detached, two storey, four-bedroom dwelling of different appearance and footprint to that which was previously approved, and to that most recently proposed for the site, is being sought.

“The applicant has long since appreciated the sensitivity of the site, having invested significant time and resources to fully understand the site constraints and opportunities as part of their commitment to ensure a design approach which is genuinely responsive to these.

“This sensitivity was amplified by the response to the public consultation on the April 2020 proposal, which reiterated how subjective design can be.

“The applicant and their design team have carefully scrutinised and embraced every comment made in response to the previous proposal.”

The agents said the design was now less predominantly Italianate, and the impression was instead more that of a late Victorian villa, creating a physical echo of a property type found elsewhere on Legh Road and in other areas of the conservation area.

Most of the property will now be finished in render as opposed to the previously proposed yellow brick.

The revised scheme includes a distinct gap between both side boundaries, and the depth of the proposed house in the plot has been reduced by three metres.

The report said: “The property can be seen to have been amended in size, scale, design approach, bulk and massing to significantly reduce any perceived degree of overbearing.

“The proposal for a genuinely self/custom build new dwelling can be seen to constitute an appropriate and sensitive redevelopment which is responsive to the setting and would act to enhance the special character of the area, reflecting its designated status as a conservation area.

“The concerns voiced in relation to the previously submitted and now withdrawn proposal can be seen to have been carefully considered and used, where valid, to ensure the design process has been genuinely evolutive.”