Plans revealed for 151 homes on green belt

PLANS have been unveiled to build more than 150 homes on former Green Belt land near Runcorn.

Morris Homes has submitted proposals to Halton Borough Council for 151 properties on farmland between Chester Road and the M56 in Preston Brook.

The area had been part of the green belt, a buffer which strictly controls development to protect against urban sprawl.

But it was removed from the Green Belt and allocated for housing development when Halton’s full council voted in a new Delivery and Allocations Local Plan (DALP), a crucial document which outlines the borough’s future planning priorities until 2037.

The proposed scheme at Preston on the Hill includes two, three and four-bedroom houses as well as 27, two bedroom apartments.

A total of 38 of the 151 properties would be classed as “affordable”.

The 14 acre site is mostly agricultural land bordered by the M56 to the north and Bridgewater Canal to the west.

The new estate would be served by an entrance from Chester Road via a new priority-controlled junction and would have a bund – a wall rising 4m above the ground to serve as a noise barrier with the motorway.

A planning statement submitted in support of the proposals, said: “In producing the local plan, the council arrived at a housing need of at least 8,050 dwelling for the period to 2037.

“It is acknowledged in the document that despite the borough’s strong record for bringing brownfield land back into use, much of the remaining previously developed land is highly constrained through contamination or other factors which affect development viability, reducing the amount of brownfield land which can realistically be brought back into beneficial use.”

It is the latest housing application to be submitted on former green belt land in the borough.

Plans for two new estates totalling almost 500 homes in north Widnes were also recently submitted to the council’s planning department.

No date has yet been set for a decision on the Preston Brook scheme.