HUNDREDS of villagers gathered at the Barbour Institute in Tattenhall for a meeting with Eddisbury MP Stephen O’Brien to discuss the recent spate of planning applications in Cheshire’s rural areas.
Mr O’Brien called the meeting with residents, councillors and planning officers to give his constituents the opportunity to seek clarification on the current planning process and voice their concerns with council officials in relation to the high number of proposed developments.
A presentation by Jo Lappin, head of strategy, regeneration and culture at Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWaC), detailed council obligations and their implications for residents.
CWaC leader Mike Jones also addressed the meeting, answering questions put forward by a member of each village’s parish council.
The meeting concluded with Mr O’Brien promising to seek an urgent meeting with Bob Neill MP, who is responsible for planning at the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Mr O’Brien said it was ‘very important and timely’ to arrange the meeting.
“I wanted to give my constituents the opportunity to have the complex planning process as well as the housing requirement statistics clarified,” he said.
“It was also an opportunity for all those affected to voice their concerns about planning directly with council planning officers.
“The meeting reinforced my own great anxiety and the strength of feeling of my constituents about the overwhelming and shattering recent spate of applications across the constituency.”
He added: “I sought to give all those who wished to speak the opportunity to have their say.
“We concluded with some clear actions and ‘asks’ which I am taking back to the relevant government ministers in Whitehall to press for some really vital changes to the permitted context in which Cheshire West and Cheshire has to judge these applications.”
