Decision time nears for luxury home plan
ASHOWDOWN over plans to build a fourbedroom house in a leafy idyll near Runcorn are due to come to a head next week.
An application has been filed regarding land to the rear of the Grade Two listed Ivy Cottage on Runcorn Road in Moore.
The proposed house would lie on Moss Lane facing Gigg Lane.
Councillors sitting on Halton’s development control committee are to decide the matter after residents objected to the plans on the grounds that the plot lies within the Green Belt and would mean the loss of greenery.
Halton Borough Council said it had received 11 letters of opposition from residents plus two from Moore Parish Council over the project.
They have slated the plans on the grounds of traffic impact, wildlife impact, claims that the scheme is ‘garden grabbing’ or profiteering, impact on protected trees, and the effects on adjoining properties, the Green Belt conservation area and adjoining listed buildings.
Moore PC has criticised what it said was one of the applicants’ arguments for building the house – that their garden is too big to look after.
It also warned that the property would cause ‘irretrievable harm’ to heritage assets and a conservation area.
The parish council added that the house does not satisfy the criteria of building in the Green Belt, namely to ‘main- ● tain or enhance the sustainability of rural communities’, nor is it a proposal for affordable housing or a village service.
Further criticism included t the proposed uPVC windows, which it said were out of character with the setting, and the size of the house, which it said was ‘large’ and not ‘limited infilling’ n as permitted under G Green Belt rules.
Halton Council planning officers have recommended approval with conditions.
They have made counter arguments to the various reasons for opposition.
A report published ahead of t this Monday’s meeting said no definition of ‘infilling’ had been provided and therefore the claim was a ‘judgement’, adding that the house would be a single dwelling with twostoreys and ‘not so large to be out of character with the size of the site and surrounding buildings’.
The report went on to say the proposed building is ‘some way’ from Ivy Cottage, whose land it is earmarked to be built on.
The report added that the council has asked the applicant to amend the plans to make the house more in keeping with the area’s character, and to replace the uPVC windows with fascias of painted timber.
The meeting is due to take place this Monday, November 5, at Runcorn Town Hall at 6pm.
Members of the public can attend.