RESIDENTS have lost a battle to stop the building of three-storey houses in Lymm.

A government inspector has ruled the development by Redrow Homes can go ahead on land off Millers Lane and Rushgreen Road, Lymm.

The inspector said he could not accept that the scale, height, or density of the new houses would harm the character of the area, even though they would be higher than those in nearby Cedarfield.

He pointed out new, three-storey houses had been built on the nearby Rushes Meadow housing estate, and that older, three-storey villas could be seen in other parts of the village.

The proposals had been opposed by Lymm Parish Council, the Oughtrington and Heatley Protest Group, Heatley Oughtrington Village Design Group and Warrington Borough Council.

Coun Sheila Woodyatt, who represents the area, said: "We had hoped to persuade the inspector that we, as local people, were the real experts on this issue.

"We knew we had to have development on this site but we had hoped to get the threestorey properties stopped."