RESIDENTS and local councillors fear that developers will wreck the character of Lymm village further by building too many homes on the Green Belt.
It follows the Government increasing housing targets for Warrington last year, generating a “free-for-all” of applications.
Local Cllr Ian Marks says, “In December 2023, Warrington Council approved a Local Plan for the Borough. Two areas of land were released from the Green Belt, allowing new homes to be built there. This was land next to Sainsbury’s and land in Statham. Building on the first site started months ago and work on the second site will start soon, once planning approval has been given at the Development Management Committee on 16 July.
As part of its plan to build more homes, the Government increased the target for Warrington last year. Providing the Council could guarantee a 5 year supply of land for housing, it was immune from this increase until the refresh of the Local Plan in a few years time. The problem now is that two things have changed. Firstly, the government has moved the goalposts and the Council has fallen behind and will not deliver enough homes to meet the five-year target.
“There is now a free-for-all and developers are making the most of it. On the agenda for Thursday’s Development Control Committee is a proposal for 55 houses opposite Sainsbury’s and a planning application has just been submitted by Peel for 60 houses at the end of Bucklow Gardens. Other developers or their agents have been seen at several other Green Belt sites around Lymm and will claim they are not Green Belt but the new category of Grey Belt.
Cllr Ian Marks
“There is huge concern that if all these developments go ahead, it will destroy the semi-rural nature of our village and put even more pressure on roads and infrastructure. At a time when public perception of politics is at a low ebb, this makes a complete mockery of the planning process. What is the point of a Local Plan? Why has a massive amount of time and effort been spent on preparing a Neighbourhood Plan for a public referendum in the autumn? The answer is that both these Plans and campaigns by residents are necessary to help combat this onslaught by developers who seem to care little about our communities. I can assure the public that all your councillors will do all they can to fight unwanted proposals.”
