Villagers fear Moore will ‘cease to exist’ with housebuilding plans
● VILLAGERS in Moore fear their area is to be ‘swamped’ with plans to build homes on huge swathes of Green Belt under council proposals
Kirsty Sharpe, resident, said the number of dwellings is due to sprawl from around 390 to around 1,950 if the local authority’s DALP is passed.
She warmed that the plans threaten to blight an area blessed at present with a nature reserve described as ‘one of the best in Cheshire’ by the RSPB, woodland, meadows, lakes and ponds, with Warrington Borough Council already intent on building 1,800 properties between Lower Walton and Moore.
And on Monday night, Halton Council gave the go-ahead for up to 850 homes on farmland and fields off Delph Lane in nearby Daresbury.
Opponents to Halton and Warrington’s DALPs have claimed the proposals flout the Government’s National Planning Framework, which says the Green Belt are there to hold back urban sprawl, stop towns merging, protect the countryside and preserve historic towns’ setting.
Public consultation on Halton’s DALP is open until 5pm on February 15 and Moore Parish Council has urged villagers to comment.
Sharon Saberi, resident, said: “The upshot of all this is that Moore and its surrounding environs could actually find itself increased by around 1,000% to as many as 4,400 homes over the next 20 years.
“The village itself will, in effect, cease to exist and Warrington and Halton will merge into one huge conurbation with Moore at its centre.
“While we accept some new housing is needed, the scale of these developments is preposterous. The proposals pay no respect to the Conservation Area or landscape setting along the Bridgewater Canal.”
Kate Fitch, lifelong resident and parish council clerk, said: “We constantly feel we’re the village on the periphery that no-one understands or wants.
“We have a Warrington postcode and telephone number, pay our council tax to Halton and yet our constitu- ency is Weaver Vale.
“It certainly doesn’t make for ‘joined-up’ thinking.”
Cllr John Bradshaw said: “I appreciate that councils are in a difficult position.
“They don’t necessarily want to take land out of the Green Belt but the Government is telling them they have to find sites for a large number of new homes.
“If Halton doesn’t allocate the sites, a Government inspector will do it for them and it will be very difficult to fight speculative plans.”
Email comments to forward. planning@ halton. gov. uk or write to Forward Planning, Halton Borough Council, Municipal Building, Kingsway, Widnes, WA8 7QF.