Controversial plans to demolish a former riding school located in the Green Belt and replace it with a church meeting hall are being recommended for approval.
Mobberley Development Ltd has applied to demolish the majority of the existing buildings at the site of the former Mobberley Riding School, which closed in April 2016 and is located off Newton Hall Lane. These will be replaced with a modern Church Meeting Hall for the Brethren Christian Church which will be able to accommodate 508 people along with a car park containing 140 spaces.
There have been a large number of objections to the proposals, including from Wilmslow Town Council, who raised concerns about the impact of the additional traffic heading towards and through Morley Green, but on balance the Planning Officer considers the use to be an acceptable development for this location, without any adverse impacts.
The planning application is being recommended for approval at a meeting of the Northern Planning Committee next week. The Planning Officer is advising that the proposals are an acceptable form of development within the Green Belt, will not increase the amount of development on the site and it is considered that the proposals will not have a detrimental impact on neighbouring properties, or on the road network despite the large numbers of visitors expected, due to the access and parking arrangements proposed.
Cheshire East Council received 182 letters of objection in respect of the application. Concerns raised included: the infrastructure and highway network cannot cope with the numbers of people proposed to attend; amount of car parking is inadequate; inappropriate development within the Green Belt; no community benefit; design is not appropriate and visual impact from floodlighting.
Objections were also received from the parish councils of Ollerton with Marthall, Great Warford and Mobberley, who stated "This application has caused a lot of controversy within the Village for various reasons. We have listened to the Parishioners and their concerns and have also met up with the Brethren Community. After careful consideration we cannot see how the village will not be detrimentally affected by the sheer volume of additional traffic that this development will bring. The development is intended to be a "Head Office", phasing out the Hale Barns meeting hall and consequently will be a very prominent and busy meeting place.
"Newton Hall Lane is not a major road and is extremely narrow in places and so naturally we are concerned that potentially it could lead to accidents. We also consider that due to the amount of time that the Brethren worship this could become an amenity issue for the surrounding neighbours."
The Northern Planning Committee will meet on Wednesday, 8th February, in Macclesfield Town Hall to determine this planning application which can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council website by searching for planning reference 16/3931M.
