Sheltered Housing Development at Ryecroft Arms Refused
| Published: 5th September 2008 20:26 |
Ryecroft Arms Public House
A Sheltered Housing development application by McCarthy & Stone (Developments) Ltd on the site of the Ryecroft Arms Public House (previously the Conway) on Turves road, Cheadle Hulme was flatly refused by Bramhall Area Committee on Thursday evening.
The application (Reference DC/030852) was called up for debate by Councillor Stuart Bodsworth.
A total of 6 objections, a petition of 260 signatures from 95 addresses, 3 supporters were received. Mark Hunter MP had also raised objection to the proposed scheme.
"Types of objections raised were surprising" said Stuart Bodsworth "Considering that the letters that had been arriving in my postbag over the years about the pub had been negative".
Chris Butt speaking on behalf of the developer McCarthy & Stone said that McCarthy & Stone were the UK's leading provider of housing for the elderly...typically the average client is 70 to 75 years of age living in a 3 bedroom semi looking for security and companionship within the local area."
He answered questions from the councillors for example:
Cllr Lenny Grice asked "How does the Credit Crunch stop you from providing affordable housing on this site?" Answer - "Current market conditions make affordable housing unprofitable."
Cllr Suzanne Wyatt asked "How many parking spaces are there to be?" Answer: "Thirteen".
Cllr Helen Foster-Grime asked "As this is sheltered accommodation - how many staff will be on the site on a regular basis?" Answer- "There is one manager on site. The residents have to do their laundry themselves and outside contractors will be coming in regularly to do the cleaning and gardening."
Cllr Stuart Bodsworth asked "The neighbours say that the balconies around the building will overlook badly into their homes - what would you like to say about this?" Answer: "The architect felt that when he designed the balconies that such space as planned between the balconies, the boundaries and the neighbours ‘ dwellings would be sufficient for there not to be any undue overlooking."
The recommendation for refusal by the Consultees was based on the following issues: The submitted scheme would have a harmful impact on the character of the area and street scene and the scale and massing and siting of the proposal would impact on residential amenity and it was not in accord with the requirement for affordable housing.
Committee were also extremely sceptical - Cllr Stuart Bodsworth said "I am not opposed in principle to Sheltered Housing here, but this application smacks of the tang of greed in it - clearly the provision of housing here is down to whether if makes a profit - The Credit Crunch makes it even more important that we protect the vulnerable residents of this borough - rather than help the companies to weather out the credit crunch storm. There is very little space for service or car parking which is not the developers fault - however the scale, massing and siting and lack of informative detail means this has to be refused!
Cllr Suzanne Wyatt added - "13 spaces for 32 residencies is unacceptable - it is rather like trying to squeeze a quart into a pint pot!"
Cllr Helen Forster-Grime - " Mc Carthy & Stone are a reputable company - but I have to refuse on the grounds of the size, scale and parking plus affordable housing is needed. Also the pub has been the hub of the community and it represents the community spirit not least for Cheadle Primary School who uses its parking area for their meeting place for their walk to school."
Cllr Maureen Walsh had the last word of advice for the developer "Next time address the highway issues. Also we need much more information up front before we consider these things."
What do you think?
You will need to sign in to post a comment to this article. if you do not have an AboutMyArea account, you can join now for free.
Posts: 67