Showpeople's plans on Coole Lane

Residents in the area are concerned by plans to turn a former RAF camp on Coole Lane into a large site for fairground operators.

If the plans receive the go ahead, it would see the Hack Green RAF Camp on Coole Lane, Austerson, turned into large plots for Showpeople's families.

The applicants, the Hack Green Group, acquired the site after it was left unmanaged for decades and became overgrown and derelict.

Their agents claim it is the most "suitable, available and achievable" in Cheshire East, and that the local authority has a duty to supply a certain number of plots for travellers.

But local residents are unhappy with the plans, and the size of the plot. There was strong support to fight the proposal at a public meeting at Broomhall Chapel.

Residents say it will have a knock-on impact on amenities for local people and traffic, destruction of habitat for wildlife, impact on schools and healthcare, and poor access to the site.

Audlem Councillor Rachel Bailey and Nantwich Town Council Leader Andrew Martin were at the meeting.

Rachel Bailey said "No one has an issue with the need for potential travellers' sites. My concern is the highways impact, with vehicles coming through Nantwich, and the ability to access the site. It's more traffic on the A500, Peter de Stapleigh Way, passing Brine Leas, Audlem Road and Park Road.

"People who deliver fairgrounds for us have a lot of equipment to maintain which is pretty substantial. The access to the site with all this is directly by residential homes.

"I'm not convinced this is the right location, and it is right that residents express their concerns and ask the question."

A resident added: "There is a groundswell of opposition to this plan. The main concerns are the size and impact of such a site within a rural community. It is far bigger than the existing community."

Janet Montgomery, of agents Brimble, Lea & Partners said: "The applicants are Travelling Showpeople who are self-employed business people travelling to fairs and who require a base in which to live and work.

"All have strong local connections with the Nantwich area, with two of the group actually having been born in Nantwich.

"As a planning consultant having dealt with many Travelling Showpeople sites, I am confident this group will integrate well with the local community and they will comply with any conditions imposed by the local council to protect residential amenity.

"There will be no greater traffic movement than historically when the site was used as an RAF Camp. The application has addressed previous concerns raised and a lot of the site will be landscaped and used as buffer zones."

Residents have until July 23rd to register their views with Cheshire East Council's planning department.

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