Frodsham Town Council statement on behalf of the Planning Committee
13 October 2015
This is in reference to the current application to build 12 houses on part of the Forest Hills site.
The debate around potential housing development at Forest Hills has once again risen to the surface, including the concerns of a local resident supporting the development at the most recent Frodsham Town Council (FTC) meeting.
Given the latest developments, which also includes the appeal from Forest Hills to the Government in respect to Chester West & Cheshire Council’s refusal to grant planning, Frodsham Town Council’s planning committee wishes to make public the procedure it followed.
“The position of Frodsham Town Council, through the planning committee, is that it supports the decision to refuse planning permission,” said FTC’s planning committee chair, Sara Wakefield.
“This is primarily based on the fact some of the proposed development is situated on green belt land and FTC has a policy to oppose any developments on green belt land.
“While it is important to state FTC’s position, it must also be clear that the ‘voice’ of FTC is not really worth more than an individual resident of Frodsham.
“It merely reflects FTC’s position, which is based on green belt policy and representations that it received in relation to the proposed development.
“FTC received a number of representations to members of the planning committee, all of which were against the proposed development.
“It is true that when the development was first put before planning it was thought the land was entirely brownfield.
“After a discussion most councillors thought this would be acceptable and it was agreed that no objections would be made from FTC, provided it was brownfield.
“If it was green belt then the ‘no building on green belt’ policy would result in FTC being against the proposal.
“The position is that we now find ourselves implementing that policy and hence the letter of representation was sent supporting the original decision by Chester West & Chester, supporting the refusal.
“The final decision on this is clearly not in the hands of FTC, but we felt it important to inform residents of how we reached our decision.