PROPOSALS to convert the White Moss Garden Centre and Nursery at Cuerdley near Penketh into a holiday chalet park have been rejected by Warrington Borough Council planners.
The proposed development involved a change of use of land to create a chalet park for 33 chalets and associated car parking, landscaping and roadway at the White Moss Garden Centre and Nursery, South Lane, Cuerdley, Warrington.
There had been five objections to the plans in the green belt, stating:
• Inappropriate development in the Green Belt
• Unsuitable location for chalet park
• Loss of jobs associated with existing garden centre
• Development will be used as traveller site
The application site is an existing garden centre located on South Lane, Cuerdley, directly to the south of the Manchester-Liverpool railway line.
A portion of the site was previously occupied by approximately 88 storage containers and operated as a separate business; however, this was not a lawful use, and the containers have since been removed from the land.
The proposed development involved the demolition of all existing structures on site, a change of use to a holiday park (sui generis) and the construction of 33 chalets. Access to the site would be taken from the existing vehicular access off South Lane, which would be widened. Soft landscaping was proposed for the main frontage with 10 spaces for visitor parking. Each chalet would have at least one car parking space for a total of 43 parking spaces in the whole development. A footpath and communal open space would run through the centre of the site, with the chalets arranged around the remaining space. An access road would run around the site in a loop and would operate on a one-way system. A Suds pond would be located in the north-eastern corner.
But the application was refused under delegated powers as it had not been demonstrated that the proposals would meet with any of the exceptions to inappropriate development and conflicted with the purposes of the Green Belt, and insufficient information had been submitted regarding the existing buildings on the site to demonstrate the level of harm to the openness of the Green Belt. There were no very special circumstances to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt and any other harm; the development would not comply with Policy GB1 of the Warrington Local Plan (2023), or the NPPF.
