A RESIDENT who has lived in Middlewich for 23 years claims he has been driven away from the town by the plans to build 450 houses on Glebe Farm next to his home.


John Sweetman, 45, who lives on Kingswood Crescent next to the soon-to-be building site, has complained to the council after receiving no notice of the plans, despite them showing new homes’ gardens going back-to-back with his.


John said: “My next-door neighbour applied for planning permission to build an extension on his house and we all got a letter to ask if it was alright with us, but when 450 properties are being built they don’t even have the courtesy to let us know.”
John says he is now moving out of Middlewich because of the development.
John added: “We’ve lived here for 23 years but now we’ll be moving out because of this and we may not even get what we should for the house because the developments may have brought the value down.
“When we moved here the biggest incentive was the amazing view over the fields and the peaceful nature of the area but now there will be months of noise and construction traffic and a ruined scenic view.
“We were told by the housing developers at the time that nobody could build on the fields because they were protected green land but that’s clearly not the case.
“We’ve really enjoyed living here, it’s been a nice place to live. It’s a shame this has happened.”
Cheshire East Council has said that it worked hard to make sure residents were aware of the plans.
Clr Simon McGrory said: “It’s unfortunate that one of the residents bordering the site didn’t know about it for whatever reason, but it is difficult to understand how.
“Public exhibitions and consultations took place about the plans and I am confident that all residents from the surrounding areas were told about it.”