Emery planning has won appeals against two enforcement notices issued by Cheshire West and Chester Council relating to the extension of existing buildings on a mixed use site in the countryside near Allostock. The cases were dealt with at a Public inquiry in September 2022. In granting retrospective planning permission for the development, the inspector concluded that, “The extension subject to the notice is of a scale and design that is appropriate for its rural setting.” He agreed with Emery Planning’s position that due to the wording of the enforcement notice, it was not open to the inspector to impose a condition restricting the hours of operation and that a single planning condition should be attached, relating to the installation of doors and additional sections of wall. Emery Planning were able to reach agreement with the council on a number of matters prior to the opening of the inquiry, reducing the length of the inquiry and mitigating costs for the client.

The permission follows another recent success for the same client in Cheshire East, where Emery Planning obtained planning permission for major development within the Green Belt at Grange Farm, Holmes Chapel Road. This included the erection of new agricultural buildings; the creation of a new access to the A50; various engineering works; and the change of use and extension of existing buildings, to enable expansion of the client’s internationally successful agricultural engineering business. The council accepted the justification provided for siting the new buildings away from the existing farmyard and found that the development would:

“…represent appropriate development in the Green Belt… The developments are deemed to be of an appropriate design to the rural location and would not result in concerns with regards to: landscape, amenity, highway safety, trees and hedgerows, ecology, highway safety, flood risk and drainage, amenity or Jodrell Bank”