Live-in plan for nursery rejected

A PLANNING chief used his casting vote to throw out an application to allow a cabin on a nursery site near Lymm to be used for residential purposes.
Cllr Tony McCarthy, chairman of the borough council’s planning committee used his vote when the committee was deadlocked on the issue.
Lymm Parish Council and Grappenhall and Thelwall Parish Council had lodged objections on the grounds the development could be a dangerous precedent leading to encroachment on green belt land intended to prevent the villages of Lymm and Thelwall becoming one.
There were also objections from Cllrs Ian and Pam Marks, of Lymm.
The retrospective application sought to gain consent for the continued use of a former office/toilet building at Caddick’s Clematis Nursery, in Lymm Road, Thelwall as residential accommodation for two years.
Councillors were told the horticultural business had been in decline for some years and there had been a physical deterioration of the site so that it now appeared as a run-down, albeit visually low key, presence in the countryside.
Applicant Vincent Clayton said he was committed to improve the appearance of the site and restore the vitality of the nursery businesses. But to do so he needed to live on site.
Planning officers recommended the application be approved and said the applicant had invested time and money rectifying unauthorised work on the site by a previous owner. It was recognised that there would be security advantages in having a full-time residential presence on the site which would also contribute to re-establishing the viability of the enterprise.