Residents lose out in barn battle

OBJECTIONS from more than 80 residents have failed to stop plans for a crop storage barn on farmland in the Green Belt near Warrington.
The objectors crowded into a meeting of Warrington Borough Council’s development management committee to oppose plans for the barn at Ten Acre Field, off Cuerdley Road, Penketh.
Fears that the scheme could lead to future residential development of the land were voiced as a result of reports that it had been offered for sale on the internet.
But planning officers said the building proposed – a timber boarded/metal sheeted agricultural storage barn – could not readily be converted for residential use.
They said approval of the scheme would not make it more likely that housing could be approved at some time in the future.
Penketh Parish Council opposed the scheme – as did local borough councillor Linda Dirir.
It was the second plan put forward by applicant Colin Hesketh. The first involved three barns and was withdrawn following opposition from residents.
Cllr Dirir said the Penketh Green Belt was a much valued delineation between Warrington and Halton and should be protected in perpetuity.
She said the applicant had advertised on the internet stating that plots could be bought on the site for £1,500 each for use as allotments and that the land would only be Green Belt until 2016.
She was concerned the development was speculative.
The parish council was concerned that the Localism Bill would take a more lenient view on plans to convert barns for residential purposes. There was also concern that the size of the barn exceeded that which would be required to store crops grown on a 10-acre site.
There would also be damage to wildlife habitats.
Officers said there were valid concerns over the original plan for three barns but that the new scheme was appropriate for the site.
The building would not readily be suitable for conversion for residential use and any future development would require planning consent according to the planning policies in force at the time.
Councillors agreed that the barn plan could go ahead.