A West Heath primary school's plan for a new sports pitch has been met with several objections from neighbouring houses.

The Quinta Primary School on Ullswater Road wants to introduce a new 2G sand dressed artificial grass sports pitch on its existing playing fields, but the plans have not been welcomed from neighbouring properties or Sport England.

The proposal is for the construction of a football pitch measuring 65m by 35m, which can be subdivided to create three mini football pitches, three netball courts and three tennis courts. The proposed surface could also accommodate a sprint track, hockey training and practice, and cricket according to planning agent Jay Ashall Partnership.

The plans include an 8m ball stop netting and post system around the perimeter of the pitch. Several residents who live near the school have submitted their objections to the proposal via Cheshire East's planning portal.

A Loachbrook Avenue household said: "Traffic around these roads at school times is horrendous, people park and block roads with very little thought for any anyone else, if this plan goes ahead, to have that volume of traffic in the evenings, weekends and holiday times would be awful.

"My second concern is the noise this sports field would create, our gardens are very close to the site, we would have very little peace.

"On top of this to have an eight-metre perimeter fence at the end of our little road and the back of everyone's house shutting out the light and sun, impacting on the wildlife, which should be preserved, the cutting down of trees, the whole idea is very wrong.

"Lastly the children need their play area to run around on. This is the wrong place for this development and should be turned down."

A Blythe Avenue household said: "We have been residents in Blythe Avenue for over 35 years and we have been very happy living next to the school.

"We have always enjoyed listening to the children play but having noise to the extent that this facility will incur will be just too much for us as elderly residents.

"We enjoy the wildlife that comes into our gardens from the school field. We feed the birds and watch for other similar creatures, this will be affected by this dramatically.

"Another very concerning factor is what damage this will have on the value of our houses. Please see this from our perspective and consider us as elderly residents, what impact this will have on all our lives."

Another Blythe Avenue resident said: "I believe there are many other sports facilities to accommodate outside clubs in the West Heath area at Congleton High School, Blackfirs Primary School, Back Lane playing fields and Quinta Park.

"Why do we need another such out of school facility?"

Sport England said they would object to the application because the plan was "not considered to accord" with any of the exceptions to Sport England's playing fields policy.

Sport England said that as part of the application, the school had provided "limited information" to enable Sport England to balance the potential loss of the playing field against the provision of the 2G pitch.

In a design and access statement submitted alongside the application, planning agent Jay Ashall Partnership, said: "The school has significantly increased in size over the last 10 years and greater pressure is being placed on the site and the facilities the site can offer.

"The current pitch allows access only to limited sports and these are slightly expanded in the summer months. The pitch is out of use for both playtime and PE whenever it is raining as the grassed areas become very muddy and unsuitable for use.

"The current provision is dangerous. The entire field is uneven, with poor drainage, dangerous holes and large stones. The field is unusable between the months of November and March. Therefore, of the 11 months in school, it is only in use for 6.

"The school has PE as a core subject due to the importance of high quality physical activity on physical and mental wellbeing. The provision would allow the school to host cricket, golf, hockey and tennis tournaments which currently have no primary competition venues. The rounders pitch and athletics track are used in the summer term from May – July. The rounders pitch and the athletics track would be marked out with cones."

The proposals are for the provision of a new artificial grass sports pitch at The Quinta to improve sports facilities on the school site, as part of the school's "ongoing development plan and modernisation programme" and "to improve its teaching and sporting environment" according to the design and access statement submitted alongside the planning application.

The application also stated that "the proposals will have very little visual impact and will replace an area of existing outdoor play space". The grassed area is currently used as play space for sporting purposes by the school and community.

The date for commenting on the application has passed, but residents can see the plans on Cheshire East's planning portal. Cheshire East has set 15th July as the decision target date.