Controversial plans to build 660 homes and a 60-bed care home in the open countryside at Wistaston have been narrowly approved despite being branded 'a recipe for disaster' by a ward councillor.

The development, which also includes a neighbourhood centre, is earmarked for a 44-hectare site to the east of Middlewich Road and will be accessed by a new three-arm roundabout on Wistaston Green Road, close to Corbetts Close.

About 120 residents objected to the proposal and were backed at Wednesday's (May 27) strategic planning board meeting (SPB) by ward councillors Margaret Simon (Conservative) and Alan Coiley (Labour) as visiting members.

Cllr Simon told the meeting: "660 homes accessed from a new roundabout on an already over-used, narrow country land which is prone to flooding is a recipe for disaster."

She added: "Because of its location this development would not, as stated [by the applicant] enhance the regeneration of Crewe, its new residents would gravitate towards Nantwich for both schools and shopping."

An illustrative masterplan of how the Wistaston 660-home scheme could look (Photo: CEC Planning).

Cllr Coiley raised concerns about highways, including the need to reduce the speed limit to 20mph, the impact on wildlife and the need for any money from the developer to be spent in Wistaston.

David Diggle, the planning agent representing The Harworth Group, told the SPB: "Cheshire East currently has a significant shortfall in deliverable housing land, and this creates an urgent need to approve sustainable housing proposals now."

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He said the scheme included 198 affordable homes, significant highways and active travel improvements and more than 20 hectares of green infrastructure.

But his later response to questions about sustainability left Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston 'flabbergasted'.

She asked what research had been done to suggest people in the new development on the edge of Wistaston and close to Nantwich would go to Crewe.

"On what planet would anybody think that someone would rent a bike and cycle to Crewe?" she asked.

Cllr Margaret Simon, Wistaston, Conservative (Photo: CEC).

Cllr Houston (Labour), also raised highways concerns saying: "I think that the access is going to be very, very problematic.

"I'm even minded to defer, if it possibly could be, to look at the build-up of traffic on Wistaston Green Road, and the very obvious need for a widening of that road."

But the Crewe councillor said because the council doesn't have a five-year housing land supply 'it is very difficult for us to look at opposing an application like this'.

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"I think previously we would have wanted to, because of the green gap and the loss of agricultural land etc, so I find myself in a very difficult situation," she said.

Prestbury councillor Thelma Jackson (Conservative), said the development shouldn't be built on farmland, 'which is so important to our lives'.

She added: "There are so many brownfield sites that need doing, but it's more expensive, so they don't do it. It's easier to dig a hole in a green field."

The application had been recommended for approval by planning officers, and head of planning David Malcolm said he sensed reluctance from councillors to move approval.

"I appreciate the concerns… it's really difficult for members, and residents particularly, who are having to endure these applications on their doorsteps, but government policy is absolutely clear at the moment, in terms of the drive for housing," said Mr Malcolm.

Cllr Houston moved the outline application be approved, subject to conditions, and this was seconded by Crewe councillor Ben Wye (Labour), who told Nub News more tax payer's money would have been spent when the developer appealed, as well as planning conditions being lost.

The vote was tied, with four councillors voting for approval, four against and one abstaining.

The application was approved on the casting vote of acting SPB chair, Cllr Garnet Marshall.

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