AN OUTLINE application for 25 new homes on a Japanese knotweed-infested site has been approved by Cheshire East Council members at a planning committee meeting.

The plans would see 7 King Street replaced, and 24 additional homes built in the land behind it.

Councillors on the Southern Planning Committee passed the application by five votes to four, with Middlewich ward member Cllr Bernice Walmsley voting against the proposal.

Plans for the site, which is bordered by King Street, Flavian Close and the River Croco, will now be put together with more detail in a bid to secure full planning permission.

Any development would be subject to 30 per cent affordable housing and more than £100,000 in provisions to schools and open spaces – including £51,443.80 towards the upgrade and maintenance of Fountain Fields.

Some providers will refuse to offer a mortgage on a property at risk of a Japanese knotweed affliction, while it is also a criminal offence to cause it to grow in the wild.

Classed as a ‘controlled waste’, it must be disposed of at specifically licensed landfill sites. Untamed, it can grow up to 10cm each day and cause problems with brickwork and tarmac.

Jane Jennings, who lives near the proposed housing site, spoke against the application at the planning meeting earlier this month but was left disappointed with the outcome.

She said: “When it’s something personal that affects you directly it’s quite difficult and emotive. Even though I mentioned infrastructure and knotweed the councillors just added an informative.

“I’m just really disappointed for Middlewich because I think we are a town that is more like a village. We are moving away from that and we don’t have the infrastructure to support it.

“You might argue that it’s only another 25 but where do you stop saying that? It doesn’t support growth or investment and that’s what these developments are supposed to do. They are supposed to be sustainable.”

Council minutes from the meeting confirmed that the application was approved subject to a section 106 agreement, securing school and open space provisions, and affordable housing prioritising “people who are in housing need and have a local connection”.

The initial planning report considered by the committee said: "The applicant should be aware that Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) is present on the proposed development site."