A Crewe councillor has said if Cheshire East hadn't paid £50,000 to hire rooms at Crewe Hall for a public inquiry - it could have cost £1m to delay proceedings to wait for another suitable venue.

As previously reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Cheshire East paid £49,696 to hire rooms at Crewe Hall Hotel for a two-week public inquiry for the Middlewich Bypass.

This included £1,980 for lunch for the planning inspector and legal experts.

Cheshire East paid £49,696 to hire rooms at Crewe Hall Hotel & Spa, Weston Road, for a two-week public inquiry for the Middlewich Bypass (Alissa Cook-Gray).

Some members of Cheshire East's audit and governance committee had questioned why none of the council's own buildings – particularly Macclesfield Town Hall – could not have been used for the inquiry.

Officers stressed the requirements – which included 'a large public room must be available with comms facilities for a remote hearing, plus no less than nine separate private rooms that do not have public access and can be locked'' were dictated by the planning inspectorate.

A report detailing why Crewe Hall was booked also states other venues – including Macclesfield Hall – were not available for the two week period allocated for the inquiry.

The report said any delay to the timetable 'will cost many millions of pounds in programme delay for the scheme due to construction cost inflation' and 'a commitment to Crewe Hall was needed quickly as alternative venues were not available for the dates of the inquiry'.

Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston (Labour), has now explained further.

She said: "Delaying the public inquiry would have cost far, far, more [than the £50,000 for Crewe Hall], in the realm of £500k to possibly even a million."

Crewe councillor Marilyn Houston (Labour), has defended Cheshire East spending £50,000 on Crewe Hall (Cheshire East Council).

She said this was because the council has to book public inquiries when the inspector is available and the planning inspectorate sets the requirements for rooms and facilities necessary.

Cllr Houston said no council facility that could meet the needs of the inspectorate was available at short notice and construction inflation was running at around 20 per cent time.

She said this was adding £250,000 to the cost of the project weekly.

READ MORE: Vacant former Crewe supermarket chain set to open up as new shop.

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