RESIDENTS and local councillors are outraged at proposals to build 55 new houses on green belt land off Rushgreen Road in Lymm.
A planning application (2025/01668) has been submitted and comments from residents must be sent to Warrington Council by 9 January.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Ian Marks says, “I urge as many people as possible to submit a letter of objection to the Council. There is enough new building taking place in our village on land allocated for development in the approved Local Plan. This application is premature, and we will do everything we can to oppose it. My letter of objection to the planners is:
“I am writing in my capacity as a Borough Councillor for the ward to request that it is ‘called in’ to be determined by the Development Management Committee. However, I hope that you will reject this application, in which case it will not be necessary to be taken to the committee.
My reasons for this request are as follows:
• This is Green Belt land and not allocated for development in the approved Local Plan
• If permission was granted it would make a mockery of the Local Plan and bring the planning process into disrepute
• There are no very special circumstances to justify approval
• On 25 September 2025 I received this email from the Planning Policy and Programmes Manager, Michael Bell
‘Warrington’s housing need figure has increased under the Government’s revised standard method. The new figure is 1,064 homes per annum, compared to our Local Plan’s housing requirement of 816 homes per annum. However, transitional arrangements mean that our housing requirement will remain as per our adopted Local Plan until the Plan is 5 years old. This is subject to the Council being able to demonstrate a 5-year housing land supply – which we currently able to demonstrate. As such, any application on Green Belt land will need to demonstrate very special circumstances in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework.
• I have every confidence that we do have evidence of a five year supply which would stand up to any appeal by the would-be developer
• The definition of what constitutes ‘Green Belt’ has been muddied by the Government’s introduction of ‘Grey Belt’. However I see no reason for this land being designated as Grey Belt
“I am also writing in my capacity as Chair of the Lymm Parish Council Planning Committee. We do not have a meeting until 6 January, which may make it difficult to respond by the required earlier date of 7 January. However, the Assistant Clerk and I have designated powers to make decisions. I have discussed this application with her, and she agrees that I should write on behalf of the Parish Council to request a determination by DMC.”
1 Comment
The amount of new builds building is beyond a joke now .
All application s need to be refused so we can take stock of how many we have at the moment