03 Dec 2013, 4:22 pm
The application had been recommended for approval by the Council's planning officers. The officers said in their report that, although the site was not allocated for development within the emerging Winsford Neighbourhood Development Plan, only "limited weight" could be accorded to the plan because it has not yet been through its examination stage.
"Although relatively advanced, the Neighbourhood Plan has yet to go through examination and referendum before it can be made and there is also a context of an under-supply of housing land across the Borough, with a consequential need to determine the proposal against the policies of the National Planning Policy Framework," the report said.
“Winsford Town Council has already produced a Neighbourhood Plan, the second in Cheshire West and Chester which is currently in the process of examination by an inspector prior to a ratification vote early in 2014," said Councillor David Armstrong according to local reports.
“As part of that plan Winsford Town Council has identified the land for 3,500 houses required by Cheshire West. The town council has been very responsible in meeting its obligations and the area in this planning application does not form any part of that land,” Armstrong said.
