Peatland housing approved with 'heavy hearts'
BBCPlans to build 125 houses on peatland in Cheshire have been approved by councillors, who said they backed the plans "with a heavy heart".
The site off Cumber Lane in Wilmslow is close to where the Lindow Man - a 2,000 year old bog body - was found in the 1980s.
One councillor said he voted for the plans because the council did not "have a chance in hell of actually winning an appeal".
Councillor Mark Goldsmith, who spoke against the plans, said councillors "get blamed but this is national policy in practice" while a local resident said the decision was "hugely, hugely disappointing".
The government has been approached for comment.
Hundreds of objections had been submitted and members of the public attended the meeting of Cheshire East's strategic planning board.
David Wilson, from Protect Lindow Moss, said there were "extensive reasons" to refuse the plans.
"Today you are making a decision to prevent permanent and irreversible harm to land of recognised historic and environmental importance," he said.
Independent David Jefferay read a statement on behalf of the local MP, Conservative Esther McVey.
She said she wanted to comment because of "immense concern for the precedent this application would set in terms of large-scale development on peatland".
"I fail to see how that decision is compatible with any further development on any part of Lindow Moss," her statement said.
Goldsmith, a Wilmslow councillor, had concerns about potential flooding and said a nearby primary school had recently received £50,000 for flood prevention work.
He added data from United Utilities showed raw sewage had been discharged 79 times into the River Bollin in the last year and that "sewage and rainwater from this site will go into that bottle neck".
Richard Barton, a planning consultant acting on behalf of developer Bellway, said the scheme would provide "much needed homes at a time when the council can't deliver a five-year planning supply".
He added there had been no objections to the scheme from any of the statutory bodies consulted.
Martin Dyer, a geotechnical engineer on behalf of the developer, said National England had removed its objections around the peat and that the land was "not classified as irreplaceable habitat under the national policy framework".
Cheshire East CouncilConservative Tony Dean said he felt "trapped in a corner".
"I might have objections to this housing estate being built that would have been acceptable legally a few years ago but aren't with the new rules," he said.
"If we say no we would lose at appeal at a huge cost to the council."
Labour's Marilyn Houston said in an "ideal world" the council could "be strategic and plan strategically, but at the moment we can't."
"With a heavy heart we have to go with the situation we're in so I won't be opposing it," she said.
Independent Garnet Marshall said he was "between a rock and a hard place" but proposed the plans be approved.
"Unfortunately I don't think we have a chance in hell of actually winning an appeal," he said.
Labour's Brian Puddicombe, the chair of the committee, said he would second the plans for approval "with a heavy heart".
Seven councillors voted for the plans, and four against.
After the meeting, Wilson said he felt the decision was "hugely, hugely disappointing".
He said councillors "ought to have some conviction".
"What is the point in having this committee here at all if all they're going to do is say we can't do anything as it'll go to appeal and it'll lose?," he continued.
Goldsmith said there were "good reasons for refusal" but changes to government policy meant the bar had been "set very, very high".
"The council gets all the blame for this, but this is due to national policy and that's unfair as well," he said.
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