‘Virtual visit’ could decide homes saga
AN 18-month saga over whether new homes can be built should hopefully be resolved this week after a ‘virtual site visit’ to reveal exactly how big the area involved is.
MSB Developments want to put two blocks of six terraces on an empty industrial site on Bank Street, Macclesfield town centre, first submitting a planning application back in April 2019.
But at a northern planning committee meeting last month there was confusion over whether the site was 0.7 hectares in size and big enough to warrant social housing or 0.27 and arguably too small for 12 homes.
It was said the developer had referred to both sizes during dealings with Cheshire East Council so committee members wanted a site visit to judge for themselves before making a decision.
But as the application was submitted 18 months ago there were fears waiting for Covid social distancing measures to be relaxed to allow a visit may take the council past the deadline to refuse it – should that be the decision.
So planning officer Paul Wakefield was tasked with making a video of the site in time for a northern planning committee meeting on Wednesday, September 9.
Objections have been raised about overdevelopment at the site, which was formerly home to Stanley Press Equipment, an whether the development would put pressure on parking in the area.
At the last meeting councillors Mick Warren and Fiona Wilson raised concerns on behalf of residents on Bank Street and Greenhills Close, which also included loss of privacy.
The
proposals
have been altered to reduce the number of houses from 14 to 12.
But at the last meeting it was pointed out that because the houses have more bedrooms in the revised plans this negated some of the benefit of this downsizing.
As part of the planning application a report by consultants Bower Mattin and Young says the development ‘has been designed to provide an attractive residential scheme in place of a tired and unused commercial site that has been vacant since 2016’.
It also states: “The proposed scheme would be between two and three story height, consistent with the local context ad has been carefully designed within the immediate surroundings where it would provide a positive contribution to the street scene.”