News in brief
THREE Staffordshire Moorlands towns are set to have free off-street parking in the run-up to Christmas.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council will be offering the parking at its car parks in Leek, Cheadle and Biddulph on selected days in the run-up to the end of the year in a bid to encourage people to do their Christmas shopping locally.
The free-parking will be in place in Leek on November 24 and December 1, 8, 15 and 22.
In Cheadle, which already staged a free parking day earlier this year, there will be free parking on November 17 and December 8, 15 and 22.
In Biddulph motorists can park for free on November 24 and December 7, 8, 15 and 22.
Councillor Edwin Wain said: “For several years now we’ve offered town councils five days every year when there is no charge for parking in our car parks and we’re delighted to do so once again.
“Christmas inevitably means people are shopping for gifts, food and drink so we hope that not having to pay for parking in the build up to the big day will encourage them to shop locally and make the most of what’s on offer on their doorsteps.”
LEEK: Almost 500 homes and businesses were left without electricity following a power cut
in the Staffordshire Moorlands on Monday.
Properties throughout Leek, including homes on Junction Road, Glebeville, Ladderedge, Wallbridge and elsewhere were left without power shortly after 11.30am on Monday - setting off burglar alarms throughout the town.
The traffic lights at the junction of Junction Road and Cheddleton Road were also left without power due to the outage.
Now Western Power Distribution have confirmed the power cut was caused by a faulty cable near Leekbrook, which was also affected by the power outage.
A spokeswoman for the electricity infrastructure company said: “We had 484 customers affected at 11.35am by a fault near Leekbrook sewage near Leek.
“We got all but two customers restored within the hour and we are continuing repairs to the faulty cable that was located.” CHEDDLETON: Plans have been lodged to build new homes in the village.
L&C Homes Ltd have filed an application for outline planning permission to build a ‘residential development’ on 0.7 hectares of land adjacent to Ox Pasture in Cheddleton.
The outline permission does not include any details of how many dwellings would be constructed - and a full application will only be lodged if outline planning permission is granted.
Staffordshire Moorlands District Council’s planning officers are expected to make a decision on the application later this year. OAKAMOOR: Plans to build more chalets at a Staffordshire Moorlands holiday park near Alton Towers have been rejected.
The Ramshorn Estate applied for planning permission to build four holiday chalets at its site off Ramshorn Road in Oakamoor.
The application to Staffordshire Moorlands District Council also asked for permission to the convert a redundant building into a holiday let and the relocation of the utility building.
However council planning officers have thrown out the plans, saying it would harm the character of the area.
The chalets would have included one for 14 people, two for four people, one for five people and one for two, according to a report submitted along with the application.
Two full-time jobs would be created if plans went ahead, with the report adding there would also be economic benefits for the wider area.
In their decision, planning officers said the benefits of the plan did not justify the impact it would have on the local landscape.
Their decision notice said: “It is acknowledged that the proposal would provide some social benefit, (but do not) outweigh the identified harm to the landscape.”