Proposals for 48-home development in Cheadle has been refused by planners at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council.

Muller Property Group wanted to build a housing estate to the north east of Cheadle on land off Oakamoor Road, however locals complained the north of the town has been swamped with housing applications in recent years.

Resident Jenny Weston said: "The north of Cheadle has already received at least 41% of its housing allocation, with three large sites being built or approved.

"These include Turners Pasture, Cecily Brook Bellway development and the Froghall Road Persimmon Homes development.

"It also has two development sites which are already allocated in the local plan."

She said once all of those schemes are completed, the area will have met its allocation – but if further developments are permitted it would mean more than three quarters of the town's current housing allocation being situated to its north.

She said: "The additional housing will create an unplanned strain on the town's infrastructure in this area – on the roads, the schools, the doctors, the supply network and the biodiversity.

"This plan of overdevelopment in the north is going directly against the council's vision for the town."

She called for existing sites, already allocated for housing, to be built on before new sites are considered.

Cheadle Town Council's Cllr Stephen Ellis was similarly unimpressed by the proposals.

He said: "This is the fifth application within five to six years, for the North East ward of Cheadle – the summary of which will see roughly 400-500 homes.

"Whilst those [developers] may all say they will have minimal impact, the cumulative impact slowly builds up."

He said the town hadn't seen adequate investment in its roads, and pointed out that the only way of travelling to the opposite side of Cheadle is through the town centre which clogs up the roads there.

Planning officers said the authority was under pressure to pass such applications due to not being able to demonstrate a five-year housing supply.

Applicant's agent Rob Duncan defended the scheme, saying no statutory consultees had objected to the scheme, and that the development would provide 16 affordable homes and wider economic benefits to the town.

He said: "We have worked constructively with council officers and statutory consultees to arrive at a scheme that will have appropriate means of drainage based on sustainable drainage principles, provides for a substantial ecological enhancement area at the eastern end of the site, will deliver a substantial net gain to biodiversity, will provide an ecology buffer zone along the northern flank of the site adjacent to Hales Hall Reservoir, will avoid any adverse impact to existing trees and hedgerows within the site, will not have an adverse impact on heritage assets or in terms of air quality, and will provide a safe and appropriate means of access onto the public highway and will not have any unacceptable knock-on impacts to traffic within the town centre with cumulative impact having been assessed within the submitted transport statement."

However, councillors were unimpressed that the entrance to the proposed estate is positioned close to a change in speed limit from 60mph to 30mph.

Cllr Paul Roberts said: "You're going to have cars coming down there at 60mph.

"You've got a blind bend – how highways can say it's ok, I'll never know."

He added: "I just don't think they get off their backsides, and come and look and talk to local councillors.

"There is no way I would put an entrance there – I'd hate to think of the first accident that 's going to happen. If somebody comes down that road at 60mph, and somebody's pulling out, it's a death I'm very sorry to say.

"I don't think think highways look at it at all. All they say is – if there hasn't been a death it's ok. Why should there have to be a death for a highway not to be safe?"

He also expressed fury that proposals aren't located on an approved development site, while agreed sites are being left empty.

He said: "It's outside the settlement boundary, it isn't one of our preferred sites. Now either we stick with our plan which I've spent 30 years of my life trying to get right… we haven't had it perfectly right, I agree.

"But why are we putting sites on which aren't on the plan, when we've already passed applications on sites that are there.

"It isn't the council's fault that the builders are not building them – that's where the council is getting penalised.

"I think it's about time this council got a grip and got onto these builders to get those houses built."

The scheme wasn't universally panned, however.

Cllr Keith Hoptroff said: "I know I won't be popular with some, but we have to move forward and provide much-needed homes and work to get the infrastructure that is needed in Cheadle."

Cllr Bill Cawley said: "Its a case of cruel necessity. We have to work with the problem we have in terms of lack of housing supply which is a historic problem and should be addressed."

Nevertheless, the majority of the committee decided not to back the scheme and it was ultimately thrown out.

READ MORE: Former carpet store in Burslem could become three new flats if plans are approved

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