Members of the Sandbach Vs Overdevelopment Without Proper Infrastructure are urging every person in the town to sign a petition which they will present to planners in a bid to block the application.

Bloor Homes has applied to build 325 homes on greenfields in Sandbach heath and Coldmoss Heath which the group says will have a huge impact on the town ad surrounding area.

The group is calling on Cheshire East Council to reject the application reference number 25/0211/OUT for the development which they say is anticipated to take up to seven years to complete.

And they say it will not only affect the area where the homes are planned to be built but also th whole town which they say is already at breaking point due to the congestion on the roads and local services.

Already 1,425 people have signed the petition here but the group wants at least 5,000 signatures.

"It will be a detrimental change to all residents of Sandbach and the surrounding towns and villages. It would irreversibly alter the landscape of Sandbach and harm its infrastructure significantly," say the group.

They say there would be irreversible loss of productive farmland for milk and crop production.

"The former estate owners, the Royd's family, were both philanthropists and ecologists and left the land to Charities in good faith. Is this the legacy they would have wanted for their estate?"

It would also mean irreplaceable biodiversity and loss of landscape and visual effect, harm to biodiversity when there is a level of biodiversity net gain required by planning guidelines.

They are also concerned about the increased levels of ground and air pollution in the surrounding area with the impact of hundreds of additional cars and construction vehicles.

"There would be Increased risk to safety and life for pedestrians and cyclists on already congested roads, the A533 is a busy A road linking the M6 to Sandbach, Crewe, Stoke and Middlewich.

"It would impact already strained services. Our doctors, dentists, schools, social care, SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) services, local hospital and other infrastructure are already significantly challenged and are in danger of being overwhelmed, as are the rural communities of Malkins Bank, Arclid, Hassall Green, Rode Heath and Hassall. 

"The local road network is already under considerable strain as a result of other developments and may be unable to cope with even more vehicles from this development. "

They claim S106 money doesn't even begin to "touch the sides of what is required" - new doctors, roads, schools, dentists to name but a few.