A NEW housing development application is likely to be given the go-ahead in Middlewich, despite going against open countryside policy.


An application has been lodged for outline permission to demolish a lone-standing house in Croxton Lane, next to Waterside Way, and build 27 homes in the green land in the area around where it stood.


Cheshire East Council’s southern planning board will vote on the application on Wednesday, April 27, and the lack of the council’s five-year housing supply means that the board cannot refuse the application on the grounds that it is contrary to open countryside rules.


Robert Law, planning case officer, has recommended the application for approval and suggested the board’s hands are tied due to the lack of a five-year housing supply.


Mr Law said: “The proposal would bring positive planning benefits such as a boost to the local economy and a social benefit via the provision of the required affordable housing.


“In the absence of a five-year housing land supply we cannot rely on countryside protection policies to defend settlement boundaries and justify the refusal of development simply because it is outside of a settlement, but these policies can be used to help assess the impact of proposed development upon the countryside.


“The proposal remains contrary to open countryside policy regardless of the council’s five-year housing land supply position and a judgement must be made as to the value of the particular area of countryside in question and whether, in the event that a five-year supply cannot be demonstrated, it is an area where the settlement boundary should be “flexed” in order to accommodate additional housing growth.


“While the proposed development would result in the loss of a green space outside of the settlement boundary, the council’s landscape officer has advised that its impact upon the wider landscape will not be significant and the development would serve to ‘round-off’ the existing settlement.”