Cheshire East has approved an application for a 178-home scheme for Congleton despite one councillor arguing there are too many issues still to be resolved for him to support it.

The principle of residential development on the land off Back Lane at Radnor Green had already been accepted and the reserved matters application before Wednesday's meeting of the strategic planning board was to decide on details such as the access, appearance, layout and parking.

It related to the southern part of the site approved in outline in 2018. David Major, representing developer Stewart Milne Homes, said the application had been submitted to the council in December 2020. "This development, if approved, will provide a further 31 affordable homes for Congleton, 1.2 acres of open space on site, a fully equipped play area for use to new and existing residents, will provide locals with access to more than 20 acres of open woodland and access across the River Dane that was previously inaccessible [and] more than £3 million of section 106 contributions to the local authority," said Mr Major. But Cllr Barry Burkhill (Handforth, Ind) said he believed the application was over-development of the site and it had come before the committee prematurely as there were too many issues which still needed resolving before it should be approved. "With this site, there are issues still outstanding. These three bedroom houses, are they three or are they two and a bit?" he said. "There's some examples, a few examples, where the recommended distances between houses is not being met. "We have policies about this which we should follow. We shouldn't say it's only slightly less than it should be. "There's also the problem about the apartment block – three storeys next to two storeys. Would this overshadow the two storeys?" Planning officer Adrian Crowther said: "We're quite comfortable the density on this site is totally appropriate to the site." Ward councillor Suzie Akers Smith (Congleton West, Ind) said some neighbouring residents had not been notified of the plans and not been given the opportunity to comment on the application. Planning officer David Malcolm said the council had notified all those it had addresses for but the neighbouring development was recent. Committee chair Mike Hunter (Middlewich, Ind)  said: "If we were to buy a property, I would imagine everybody on this committee, and any planning committee, the first port of call would be the library, and the local plan strategy, or the council offices and the local plan strategy, to check to see what's going to be built in and around that area or what land's designated for. "Unfortunately, a lot of the people that move into new developments buy a dream and the dream is an open field next to their house unaware of the development that's going to take place." Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner (Con) said he was satisfied the council's officers had done all they could in respect of consultation responsibilities and suggested if residents were unhappy they should take up the matter with their lawyers regarding the search done before they bought their homes. "Had they undertaken a search correctly, it would have identified that there was an application on this land that they would have been able then to view the plans that have been available, at least in some form, since last December," said Cllr Gardiner. He recommended the application be approved with conditions and this was seconded by Cllr Patrick Redstone (Odd Rode, Con). Cllr Burkhill said: "I'm still not happy with this. I just think there's far too many conditions. "We should be looking at these issues now rather than leaving it to conditions which can be overcome at some later date." The planning board voted by eight to two to approve the application. Earlier in the month, Congleton Nub News reported on the environmental threat poised by the site, amid recommendation for the approval of the 178 new homes. Please click here to read that article. Please consider signing up for our Friday weekly newsletter containing each week's top 10 Congleton news stories, and one FREE exclusive article. 2900 of you lovely people have signed up already. Simply enter your email address into the shaded box below. Free from pop-up ads, or unwanted surveys, Congleton Nub News is a quality online newspaper which produces 15-25 stories a week for our town. You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter.