TWO rural villages will find out today whether plans for large-scale housing developments – which they fear will swamp their communities – are to be given the green light.

At a meeting of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s strategic planning committee tonight, residents and parish councillors from Tattenhall and Tarvin will learn whether plans to build hundreds of new family homes in their village are to be approved.

Planners will have to decide whether building 138 homes on greenfield sites near Harding Avenue and Chester Road in Tattenhall and 127 on Tarporley Road in Tarvin would be of benefit to both communities.

The Harding Avenue site was rejected on landscape grounds as recently as September but is being resubmitted after developers Redrow produced a full landscape and visual impact assessment for recommendation.

Tonight’s meeting will discuss only some of the dozens of developments proposed for villages in Cheshire’s rural areas.

If all the proposed developments in Tattenhall were approved, it would mean an influx of about 400 homes being built in the village, grossly outweighing the suggested figure outlined in the council’s Local Plan blueprint, which sets out the planning policy framework for the borough up to 2030.

Carol Weaver, chairwoman of the Tattenhall Parish Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, said although the village was not opposed to development, too much too soon would be ‘inappropriate’.

She said: “We’d rather look at proper housing need.”

Mrs Weaver, the spearhead of Tattenhall’s Neighbourhood Plan, which gives residents a voice in their community, added: “We’re not the only village suffering and I hope we have a good turnout of supporters to the meeting.”

However, Mike Hassall, chairman of Tarvin Parish Council said the general feeling in his village was ‘favourable’ towards the Tarporley Road plans, which are estimated to bring £1.5m into the local economy.

But Michael George, who is campaigning against a 100-home plan for Tarporley, said it would be ‘a shocking disgrace’ if today’s applications are approved.

“The council needs to take a strong stance against these opportunistic developments that are currently bombarding the Cheshire countryside,” he said.