PLANS for up to 142 homes on playing fields in Chester were overwhelmingly rejected by councillors.
Members of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s strategic planning were concerned Welsh Water is still objecting to Bark Street Investments’ proposals for houses on pitches in Clifton Drive, off Sealand Road, Blacon, because of capacity issues at its waste water treatment plant.
Sport England had also reaffirmed its objection to the loss of facilities despite an offer of £165,000 towards replacement pitches.
Planning officer Paul Friston had changed his recommendation from refusal last time the plans came before the committee, to approval, leaving some councillors perplexed.
Blacon ward councillor Marie Nelson said: “Nothing has changed. Welsh Water are still objecting. Sport England are still objecting. I would ask members to vote against this because I feel it is completely and utterly the wrong place for housing.”
Fellow Blacon councillor Reggie Jones said: “It is a rat run – it suffers from severe congestion at times. This will make it worse. I’ve asked on a number of occasions for a development brief to be prepared for that area, because it needs an assessment of the traffic and transport based on the whole of that area which is subject to a number of planning applications.”
Addressing new chairman Cllr Howard Greenwood, he added: “Bark Investments. A faceless company. Nobody knows who they are. I ask you not to delegate any decision making. To do so will only fuel further speculation that secrecy is the norm at CWaC. The changes in the strategic planning committee gives fear to residents out there that the planning process can be open to manipulating the system. People are watching your actions and you are not winning their hearts and minds.”
Blacon councillor Carolyn Graham was unimpressed by the applicant’s offer of money towards replacement pitches.
She said: “Sport England has made it abundantly clear that in the event of development, they need to see growth in both quality and quantity of pitches. The developers are not offering this.”
The committee, including chairman Cllr Greenwood, voted against the planning application, by eight votes and one abstention, based on the Welsh Water objection and the loss of playing fields.
