Guardian News
Tewkesbury Close residents raise concerns over plans for 29 homes on bungalow site
10:31am Monday 20th February 2012
A PETITION has been launched in Middlewich to fight plans to demolish a bungalow and make way for 29 homes.
Jones Homes has submitted its blueprints to transform the buildings and gardens at 50A Nantwich Road into two-storey family properties.
Concerned residents in Tewkesbury Close fear that the development will increase traffic in their neighbourhood by a third as their road will be used for access.
Graham Kench, 60, said: “I’d rather have open land but if the development enhances the community I don’t have a problem with it.
“I have nothing against the development in itself but it will increase the traffic which is already bad.
“This is a big area for schoolchildren. They’re forever riding their bikes on the road.
“If traffic can come off Nantwich Road it will be better for residents. Jones Homes should do what’s best for the community.”
Around 120 people have signed the petition in Tewkesbury Close and the surrounding area.
Elaine Kench, 57, added: “The bottom of Glastonbury Drive is like a parking lot as it is.
“People don’t see each other, there’s been a lot of near misses and scrapes.
“If construction traffic comes through here it will be horrendous.”
But in a report prepared for the council, a spokesman for Jones Homes said: “The highways department confirmed their policy that where development can be safely accessed via existing viable junctions, there should be no need for the burden of additional junctions onto the highway network.
“As a result, access is still proposed from the existing end of Tewkesbury Close.”
The report added: “The site lies within the settlement boundary of Middlewich and will bring the site back into use, providing an appropriate and complementary use to the existing residential nature of the area.”
But Elaine, who recently took early retirement at Barclays Bank, said: “Middlewich is a lovely town but we get left behind.
“Homes are being built but we need the infrastructure to support it. We’re still waiting for the railway link and it’s quite a fight to get a place in some of the schools.”
================================= IT will be the end of an era for Graham and Elaine Kench if new homes are built next to their property.
The couple have been tending the land of the proposed development site under licence for 27 years.
There is also an oak tree on the land that is more than a century old which could have to be removed.
Graham, who works at Twinfix in Warrington, said: “It’s sad to lose land we’ve tended but accept we don’t legally have a right to it.”
The site is owned by NSPCC, the Salvation Army and Vision Support and it is understood that they want to sell to make money for their charities.
