Cheshire East has approved the design and layout for a 390-home development at Middlewich – subject to issues relating to a nearby site of special scientific interest being resolved.

Outline approval had already been granted for development of the site at Glebe Farm, Booth Lane, Moston.

Yesterday (July 27) the strategic planning board was considering the reserved matters application from Taylor Wimpey, which deals with the appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the scheme.

This had been deferred in March because councillors wanted to see the smaller three-bedroom properties replaced with two-bed houses.

Yesterday (Wednesday) councillors were in favour of the amended scheme, which also saw the number of homes reduced from 405 to 390, but they were unable to approve it outright because of outstanding issues relating to the impact upon the nearby site of special scientific interest – Sandbach Flashes – and issues concerning SP Energy.

Instead they voted to delegate the application to the head of planning to approve, in consultation with the chair, once these outstanding issues have been resolved.

Head of planning David Malcolm told the committee it was expected both matters would be resolved soon.

Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner (Con) told the meeting: "I'm very pleased to see that the developer took on board the comments that I and others made regarding the mix of properties on this development."

But he said he was concerned the outstanding issues, which now meant the application had to be delegated back to the officer, had only been recently raised by the third parties.

Earlier in the meeting, concerns over the impact of the construction process were raised by Middlewich councillors Jonathan Parry (Lab) and Mike Hunter (Lab).

Cllr Parry, speaking as a visiting councillor, said he thought the amended application was a big improvement on that considered by the board in March.

But he sought assurances the town would be protected during the construction process.

"Middlewich has been blighted by a lot of construction in the past," said Cllr Parry.

He asked for a construction management plan which would ban parking on the surrounding roads, insist on an on-site compound to keep the vehicles on and a wheel wash.

Cllr Jonathan Parry

He added: "The access is from Booth Lane only, which is a busy main road, mud over this road could potentially cause accidents."

Planning board chair Mike Hunter said: "That particular end of town has suffered immensely from traffic problems through development.

"Can we ensure that there are no road closures involving the connections to this particular development, as in electric, gas, sewers… and the actual disruption to the local residents in that area is kept to a very bare minimum?"

Cllr Mike Hunter

He also asked whether a pedestrian crossing could be installed from the estate to the canal network.

Mr Malcolm said that might be something to be pursued separately.

The application, which also includes a retail unit and public open space, was moved for approval [via delegation] by Cllr Gardiner and seconded by Haslington councillor Steve Edgar.

Cllr Edgar (Con) said: "We've got what we asked for from the previous application… and I do think that crossing has a lot of potential."

Ten councillors voted for approval and one abstained.