Green Belt homes scheme rejected by planners

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build up to 19 houses and bungalows on Green Belt land at Lymm has been rejected by planning chiefs at Warrington.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee voted narrowly – on chairman Cllr Tony McCarthy’s casting vote –  to refuse consent for the outline proposals for land at Ravenbank Hose, off Pepper Street – land currently used for the storage of up to 200 caravans.
The existing house and a number of other outbuildings would have been demolished to make way for the development Lymm Parish Council had opposed the scheme on the grounds it was in the Green Belt and that access was at the top of a very busy, already congested road close to a primary school and would cause an additional accident hazard.
Seven neighbours also objected on the grounds the development would worsen traffic problems on Pepper Street, particularly at school time.
They argued that the development was unacceptable in the Green Belt and that there was little public transport or facilities or amenities nearby There would also be a loss of amenity at the Rosebank Naturegarten
Planning agreed that housing development in the Green Belt was normally inappropriate and that the houses would be more prominent in the area than the existing caravans. But they also believed removal of the caravans would have positive aspects.
Overall they thought the development would bring more benefits to the area than damage.
But the committee rejected their recommendation and refused permission for the scheme.