Objectors line up to oppose plans for 27 houses

OBJECTORS have lined up to oppose plans for 27 houses – including some three-storey properties – at Houghton Green, Warrington.
The plan, submitted by John Leighton, is to be submitted to the borough council’s development management committee on Thursday.
It is opposed by borough council members from Poplars and Hulme and Burtonwood and Winwick, by Winwick Parish Council and by 30 local residents.
But officers are recommending it be approved.
The scheme involves 27 houses – 15 of which would be three-storey townhouses and 12 would be two storey semi-detached – on land off Mill Lane.
There would also be an open amenity space.
Planning consent for six houses on part of the 1.3 hectare site was granted as far back as 1987 but was never progressed.
A report to be considered says the land is generally overgrown with brambles and other vegetation although there also two or three abandoned sheds. It has, in the past, been used for grazing horses.
Objectors say noise and pollution from the adjacent M62 motorway would impact on residents of the new houses who would have a poor outlook over the motorway. There would also be a traffic impact on Mill Lane.
They also argued that it was not a sustainable location, that further phases of development would have further impacts and that a planning inspector had ruled in 2013 that a proposal for 150 houses opposite the site was unsustainable.
Planning officers said the scheme would deliver new homes to meet the needs of Warrington’s population and would have benefits which outweighed any adverse effects.