An application by Wyevale Garden Centre to build a development of 15 houses and eight apartments on Green Belt land in Timperley has been refused by Trafford Council.
Wyevale had submitted a planning application to Trafford Borough Council to convert the seven-acre site off Thorley Lane – currently home to its World of Pets and Leisure and World of Water retail brands – into a residential development comprising 15 detached two and three-bedroom houses and two blocks each made up of four apartments.
A report prepared in support of Wyevale’s application by town planners Gregory Gray Associates claimed the site comprised previously developed land and that therefore the
development of the site for residential purposes “represents a prudent use of natural resources”, while also “enhancing the character of the area”.
But at a meeting of its planning department, the council determined that Wyevale had failed to demonstrate that there were any “special circumstances which would outweigh the harm to the Green Belt”, and that it had also been unable to demonstrate how the scheme would not harm the protected species of great crested newts on the site.
Dozens of objections from residents close to the proposed scheme had also been received by Trafford.
The council also said the proposed development would “prejudice the proper planning of the area” ahead of the Greater Manchester Spatial Framework planning process.
The framework proposes to radically redraw Greater Manchester’s Green Belt in order to facilitate a 20-year programme of housebuilding, to include 23,000 new homes in Trafford.
The news comes just weeks after the Altrincham & Hale Muslim Association withdrew a application to build a new Islamic cultural centre on the opposite side of Thorley Lane, although it later said it was still “committed” to the site.
