Green belt planning battle flares again

A LONG-running battle over plans for stables on Green Belt land at Warrington has flared up again.
An application to vary conditions attached to the planning consent on land off Petersfield Gardens, Culcheth has drawn opposition from Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council and 18 nearby residents.
The proposals, which involve changes to an access track, will be considered by members of the borough council’s planning committee next week – although officers are recommending the amendments should be approved.
Parish councillors say the proposed access is incompatible with the rural setting and the access, which runs through a housing estate and passed a primary school, are in appropriate and unnecessary.
Neighbours fear there are plans to develop the site for housing, that any change to the conditions could lead to further changes and increase traffic problems.
They also believe there will be an impact on the Green Belt and that there is no need or justification for the proposals.
Plans for a block of 10 stables on the site were refused in 2007 and the following year an appeal, which considered eight stables, was dismissed.
In 2010, the present plan for three stables, tack room an associated access and hardstanding, was approved subject to the conditions which form the basis of the new application.
Members of the planning committee put off a decision on several occasions and visited the site twice before giving consent.
There was strong opposition from neighbours, the parish council and Twiss Green Primary School.
They claimed the proposed development would be inappropriate in the Green Belt, that increased traffic would cause danger in a residential area and near to a school, that mud would be deposited on roads and there would be increased noise.
They condemned the proposed development as a “blot on the landscape.”
But the scheme was approved after planners were assured only three horses would be accommodated on the site and that the stables would be acceptable in the Green Belt and would have no detrimental impact on the character of the area.
Planning officers say the proposed changes to the scheme are not significant in visual terms and the development is considered appropriate in the Green Belt.
The proposed changes to the access track are 57 metres away from neighbouring properties and will reduce the width of the central section of the access track from 1.2 metres wide to one metre.