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Tom re-elected as Lib Dems make gains
Graham reports back from Friends of Scholes Park meeting
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Seashell Trust planning application coming to 12th December committee
by Lib Dem team on 29 November, 2017
We have been informed that the Seashell Trust planning application (to build up to 325 homes on fields in the Green Belt north of the site to fund a new school building) will be coming to Cheadle Area Committee on 12th December 2017.
The Area Committee meeting is being moved to Heald Green Village Hall to both be nearer to the site and accommodate more people.
Because the planning application is especially contentious, speakers for and against will be allowed six minutes, not the usual three.
As the application involves building on the Green Belt, the final decision will be taken by the Council’s Planning & Highways Committee.
The planning application 60928 can be seen here. There have been an unusually high 665 public comments on the planning application, of which 345 oppose it and 168 support it.
16 Comments
Can understand the opposition but surprised there aren’t more as the extra traffic will be a nightmare and it is on Greenbelt and thought all the councils were against this misuse.
My worry is still the extra traffic as at the moment Gatley is grid locked for hours in rush hour, last 3 – 4 hours some days and Gatley/ Altrinchan Road area is the most polluted area in Manchester because of this. You now want to add at least 350 cars extra which, if like the norm, is two car families it will double. Plus the pressure on Doctors, Schools, utilities, roads and all the other emergency services needs to be thought about. I also think selling the land is only going to be a small part of building the new school so why can’t the Charity support this little extra cost as they must be paying for the rest of the build.
Hi Arthur – the general planning rule with Green Belt is that there has to be an exceptional reason to allow building.
The Seashell Trust is arguing that selling this land for housing is the only way they can raise the money they need to rebuild the school to modern standards.
Whether the council agrees with them will be decided in the planning application process.
This is simple to sort out they’re building houses to fund a new school so just build em a new school problem solved !
I òppose this plan firstly,we will lose a piece of greenbelt which is valuable to what remains of our wildlife plus
resident and passing migrant birds. Secondly, the traffic, it is virtually at a standstill at certain times of the day and this will certainly worsen when the bypass opens. The thought of 350 cars a day (minimum) coming and going on and off the estate presumably using a roundabout, worries me. Thirdly, how much of that housing going to be affordable to people on lower wages. Fourthly, our Doctors Surgeries and school provision overstretched.
I am sorry but sometimes what we want is not always possible and plans have to be re-considered
for once can you please listen to local people. we dont want more green belt being built on. there literally wont be any left in a few years. More and houses are being built in the area and traffic is getting worse every year. The charity are using this development to make money and developers are doing the same. its all about money.
Not to mention all the extra traffic caused by Barnes and the old Ferranti site in Gatley.
Tell me Bruce, are the Conservatives opposed to more house-building? I only ask because I’ve been listening to Conservative ministers and they are all saying that local councils should be building more, not less.
Iain – how would I know? Just because I disagree with most of your policies you cannot conclude that I am a Tory. I only try and counter your obvious bias against the Tories.
No building on green belt, but let’s keep the Tatton eyesore. From the air, there is a large amount of green. Building to provide needed homes may sometimes be the thin end of the wedge on green belt, but I’m sure our planners know best. Having 6 minutes to speak instead of 3 will make all the difference.
I have written in support of this planning application and hope others will do the same. The current buildings at Seashell Trust are no longer fit for purpose and need the investment raised from selling the land to be rebuilt.
Seashell Trust provides educational places to young people with profound and complex needs from all over the country. These are the most vulnerable members of our society and they need the specialised support that Seashell Trust excels at. Seashell Trust is a large employer and huge asset to Stockport.
I hope a compromise is reached and this application is approved on 12th Dec.
Seems a win-win situation to me. On the one hand the Trust gets to do the vital improvements to its buildings and, on the other, we get some more desperatley needed houses.
I really do not understand the apparent affection for the green belt (except by way of nimbyism). As Robert Cohen indicates upthread, Britain has a vast amount of green space. You need only drive a couple of miles from Cheadle and Gatley to see just how rural we are as a country. The expansion of the urban areas has been tiny in comparision over the last century.
Being ancient I was born in a place on the Village Green which was close to farm buildings where the villagers would meet to watch the harvesting machines. My parents shop sold produce from local fields – vegetables & fruit. After school at Gatley Primary we scooted into the adjoining fields to play Tarzan and got to know the insects and other wild life.
Saying the Country is still rural after a two mile very slow drive belies the huge quantities of food we now import to feed the population – quantities rapidly expanding! Seeing a green hedge is not evidence of rurality.
David – I agree that a green hedge is not evidence of rurality. But a successful agricultural industry is – and that’s what we have in the UK (although I agree it is under pressure from overseas competition). Here in Cheshire, we have diverse farming but, as traditional for centuries, the major “crop” is dairy cattle.
As for self sufficiency in food, we currently import about 50% of our needs. And, of course, if we as customers didnt demand year round access to usually seasonal products, the importg balance would change. But importing is nothing new. We were last self sufficient in food in the 18th century – even during both world wars, we still imported large quantities of food. .
Extra 350 homes without public transport and the infrastructure to support them is utter Madness.
This proposal follows the granted application to enlarge the Mosque whilst I was not against this application it will bring considerably more traffic to the area. When will you councillors admit that the current infrastructure is not fit for purpose and fails to support existing residents and therefore no more developments can be considered.
Solve a problem at Seashell and create huge problem for other schools in the area. “Quarts and pint pots”