Parish Councillors at Gladman hearing

Two Audlem Parish Councillors spoke against the Gladman application to build up to 120 dwellings at Little Heath when it was refused permission by Cheshire East's Strategic Planning Board on Wednesday afternoon.

Cllr Geoff Seddon spoke on behalf of the Parish Council while Cllr Frances Mary Christie spoke in two roles, firstly on behalf of the Parish Plan Planning Group, who had produced Audlem's Village Design Statement (VDS) and Audlem Medical Practice.

Each were allowed a maximum of three minutes and had to face questioning by Cheshire East councillors after their statements.

Parish Council

Geoff Seddon said that nothing had changed since Gladman's first application, refused by the Board on October last year. The proposal was contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and the site was not in the SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment) list of potential sites in Audlem and elsewhere in Cheshire East that might be considered for development.

He said that, like Communities and Local Government Secretary, Eric Pickles, Audlem Parish Council was pleased that Cheshire East now has a robust Local Plan and 5-year Housing Supply in place which has suggested Audlem needs around seventy properties over 20 years. The application to build 120 properties is premature, and its sheer size is contrary to the village's character and represents a massive 17% increase in the number of dwellings in Audlem. It was not sustainable.

He argued that the village's medical facilities would not be able to cope with such growth and neither could the sewerage system, which could mean a risk to public health. There was a lack of both good quality public transport and local employment opportunities. As an outline planning application, there would be no guarantee about the design of the houses at what is a gateway to the village.

Children living on the estate would have to cross the busy A529 to reach the village school while Audlem was already well served with shops and other businesses and did not need such a sudden growth in population.

In answer to a question, he responded that other more suitable sites were available for building and that infill was the best method. He suggested that a Neighbourhood Plan, which the Parish Council are investigating producing, will identify sites.

Asked about the Section 106 offer to help medical facilities. Geoof Seddon said there was concern that any money might go to NHS England but may not come to Audlem.

Village Design Statement

Frances Mary Christie described how the Village Design Statement had been revised and updated as recently as 2011 and had argued for "no large scale developments." Retaining the character of the village would be best achieved by infill.

She added that the Little Heath Gladman proposal would reduce the gap substantially between Audlem and Hankelow. The continuation of farming was essential to a community like Audlem and the proposal would eradicate good quality agricultural land.

The Audlem Village Design Statement recognises the importance of small scale affordable housing development but the village does not need a vast estate of executive houses. It would be unsustainable, unnecessary and contrary to the VDS.

Under questioning, France Mary Christie said that the Local Plan envisaged 70 dwellings for Audlem over 20 years and planning permission already existed for 43. An estate of 120 was completely out of proportion.

Medical

Speaking then about medical facilities, she said that the Audlem Medical Practice had major concerns about the increase in population as each Audlem doctor already had well over the national average number of patients per doctor. The Practice would have to close its lists which would affect all patients in the area.

There was no easy solution to the lack of space at the Practice, and, under questioning she responded that the money on offer from Gladman was not sufficient to build another storey at the Practice's building.

As members of the Strategic Board warmed to the subject, it became clear that Cheshire East had no process in place for dealing with Section 106 moneys paid by developers for medical facilities. The Audlem case was the first to have come up in the Authority and officers said: "How will that money go to Audlem – we do not know."

The planning officer added that Gladman had not made the offer for charity but to meet concerns about medical facilities made about their original planning application in October. The planners said that they while they would do what they can to get the money to Audlem, if the Section 106 was agreed by the Inspector if Gladman won their appeal, it was expected the money would go to NHS England.

More tomorrow on the impact of Local Plans, Neighbourhood Plans and Parish Plans, as revealed on Wednesday at the Gladman hearing.

This article is from our news archive. As a result pictures or videos originally associated with it may have been removed and some of the content may no longer be accurate or relevant.