Controversial golf plan inquiry awaits results
Planning inspector will make final decision on homes bid
AN INQUIRY into controversial plans to build 233 homes on a Widnes golf course has closed, with a final decision expected in the coming weeks.
Anwyl Homes had applied for permission to construct the properties at Widnes Golf Club, which would also result in the course itself being reduced in size from 18 holes to nine.
The plans had been rejected by the council’s planning committee last March, with more than 2,000 local residents signing a petition against it. The firm appealed that decision and lodged a new, amended planning application.
But the 13-week period to determine that new application expired and Anwyl and the golf club lodged an appeal to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate on the grounds of ‘non-determination’. This meant the inspector will now have the final say and not the council.
A five-day virtual inquiry to determine the application got under way on February 28 presided over by solicitor Rory Cridland, an inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. But a sixth day was added which was convened online yesterday, Monday, lasting for almost five hours.
In the intervening time, Halton Council has since voted to formally adopt a new Delivery and Allocations Local Plan’s (DALP), a document which outlines the planning strategy for the borough up until 2037 and has repercussions for things such as planning for housing, employment and the protected Green Belt. The inspector also conducted site visits.
Speaking at the inquiry on behalf of Halton Borough Council, held online over Microsoft Teams, John Hunter said: “The government’s policy is sports facilities should be protected unless it can be established the facility in question is surplus to requirements.
“Far from requiring local planning authorities to have their own evidence of need for a facility to justify refusing a development that would result in it’s loss, it is the other way around.
“There is a presumption that a development which would result in its loss should be refused, unless the applicant can show it’s not needed.”
Speaking on behalf of Anwyl, John Barrett said: “There are currently 13 standard 18-hole golf courses, plus the 18-hole golf course at the club itself within a 20-minute drive, there are currently no nine-hole golf courses.”
After officially closing the inquiry, the inspector will now deliberate and is due to deliver his verdict in the next few weeks.