Four meerkats play together and ride on the back of a tortoise totally unaware that, if a planning decision had gone the other way, they would have been kicked out of their safe, warm home.

These are just some of the animals that now have a secure future after Cheshire East's southern planning committee saw 'common sense', as one councillor put it, and over-ruled officers to vote unanimously in favour of allowing the zoo to be housed at Holmes Chapel.

"We're really grateful to the councillors," said Melissa Mews, who runs Zoo2U with husband Ben.

"We had to move from where we were at Alsager so we created temporary enclosures for the animals here, but now we can get on with creating new permanent homes for them."

Yindi, a bearded dragon. (Photo: Belinda Ryan)

The zoo is on land at The Orchards Farm at Twemlow Green, adjacent to Bidlea Dairy.

"At the moment everything is temporary, the only thing that has been built to last is our meerkat enclosure and that was because they had a specific need for heat, and we've got tortoises in there as well," said Melissa.

The meerkats are extremely sociable, playful little things who seem to love interaction with people.

They climb all over Melissa, snuggling into her, before running off to play with a tortoise, who had no objection to acting as their transport as they climbed on to his back and he made his way around the enclosure – at a much faster pace than is normally attributed to tortoises.

"They're always doing that," says Melissa, as one of the meerkats is sniffing around my trainers and another tortoise appeared from nowhere to barge me out of the way from behind as he headed off in a different direction.

"We created this enclosure because they needed a space, but outside will be just as big for them, so they're going to have twice the space.

"And we want to go for space in the zoo. We don't want to cram loads of animals in.

"We have the space we have, and we want to use it wisely."

A Meerkat hitches a lift on the back of a tortoise. (Photo: Belinda Ryan)

Away from the meerkats – and it took a lot to drag me away from the meerkats – Kinta, the kookaburra, is being particularly vocal and 'laughing'.

Beau, the barn owl, in a temporary aviary a little further away, seemed to prefer things a little quieter.

"We're not here just to let people gawp at the animals," said Melissa. "We've given the birds the option to hide away from people, so that's what they do. That's their nature.

"The enclosures are designed for the animals. We don't create enclosures for people to come in and look at the animals.

"We create the enclosures for the animals. They're more of a habitat, rather than a cage or an enclosure."

Animals rights activists had written to Cheshire East Council to object to the planning application – although none turned up at the committee hearing to air their views.

Melissa has a long experience of working in zoos.

She was head keeper at Reaseheath in Nantwich for about three years.

Before that she worked at zoos in Colchester, Cambridge and even at Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo.

I asked her what her response was to people who say animals shouldn't be caged or kept in enclosures.

"I would agree," she said. "In an ideal world, it would be absolutely perfect that there were no zoos, but it's not an ideal world.

"Humans are selfish, and we are just continuing to destroy the planet.

"We are learning that we need to preserve what we have now. But for some species, it's too late, and for other species, they're on the brink of being extinct so what can we do to help that?"

She continued: "And zoos have got a place because, yes, they are captive animals, but most captive animals have been bred in captivity, so they don't know anything different.

"Because they're born in a zoo, they are used to people being around them.

"There is a lot of care and attention that goes into creating zoo enclosures to reduce the stress of the animal and to encourage natural behaviours to be exhibited.

"In years gone by there wasn't that, so I think it's an outdated opinion."

Melissa said years ago enclosures in zoos were built specifically for people to come and see the animals.

Kinta The Kookaburra at Holmes Chapel Zoo. (Photo: Belinda Ryan)

"Now it's the other way around," she said.

"The enclosures are designed for the animals and their welfare and if the people that come visiting don't see the animal because it wants to hide away, unfortunately they don't see the animal."

One little beauty, who is particularly grateful for her home at Holmes Chapel, is Yindi, a bearded dragon.

She was a rescue animal and clearly welcomes the loving care she receives as she is being carefully being bathed.

Melissa said: "We don't know her history, but she's clearly had some health issues in the past, so we really look after this little one.

"She doesn't really hunt or move around too much. We think she's had calcium deficiency in the past.

"We hand-feed her, we hand-feed water for her, and it's quite labour intensive, but she's here with us and we give her the best care possible."

Outside and there's some sheep grazing, helping to 'mow' the grass.

These are Soay sheep, a rare breed that originate from an island on the Outer Hebrides.

Other animals include the vulnerable monkey-tailed skink from Indonesia, a chameleon, giant stick insects from Australia and gerbils.

Some others, including skunks, are being kept elsewhere until their enclosures can be built.

Melissa is hoping Holmes Chapel Zoo will be open to the public soon.

It has been granted a zoo licence by an inspector and now just has to meet the planning conditions attached to the permission granted by Cheshire East last week.

"Without people in the zoo, we cannot realise our conservation, our sustainability strategy and see the zoo develop," she said.

"We've got all these lovely animals and we just need people to be able to see them doing what they want to do on their own terms."

She added: "We have such a strong vision for it being a gem within the local community."

Would you like to know more about Sandbach?

Free from clickbait, pop-up ads and unwanted surveys, Sandbach Nub News is a quality online newspaper for our town.

Please consider following Sandbach Nub News on Facebook  or Twitter