A HOUSING plan has been lodged which would massively increase the size of a Cheshire hamlet.

Marbury Properties has lodged an outline application for 78 houses, a village hall, and new rural ambulance station which would be based on a former council depot site and open fields in Milton Green.

The application follows plans by Morris Homes being approved by a planning officer last August for 33 houses on an adjacent site against the wishes of the community.

Residents raised concerns about highway safety as well as lack of infrastructure such as schools, shops and inadequate drainage. John Clark, of Chapel Lane, alleged the decision had been taken ‘undemocratically’ and argued it had ‘been done with the council yard next in line’.

Cheshire West and Chester Council spokesman Ian Callister said the application was not ‘called in’ by local ward councillors so was determined by an officer rather than at committee. The scheme would help address the housing shortfall in Cheshire West.

Turning to the depot site, Mr Callister said it was surplus to requirements but not currently on the market. However, he would not discuss whether negotiations had taken place with any developers.

Council chief executive Steve Robinson, in a written response to Eddisbury MP Stephen O’Brien who had enquired on behalf of a Milton Green resident, wrote in July: “There are no arrangements in place for the council to develop Milton Green depot at this stage.

“The site is now surplus to our operational requirements following new contractual arrangements for highways maintenance and refuse collection being procured and mobilised.

“It is certainly an aspiration of the council to see how we can develop the site in conjunction with the local community and dispose of it. If and when this happens we will look to dispose of it in an open and transparent manner and achieve best value which is a statutory requirement and something that we do as a matter of course.”

Marbury Properties says the proposal makes use of an existing and disused brownfield site to create much needed new homes.

Earlier this year Bell Developments Ltd gave a presentation to the parish council over a proposed housing scheme involving the council depot.

Spokesman Mike Bell said his firm had been acting on behalf of Marbury Properties but Bell was now ‘out of it’ and had no financial interest.