PLANS for part of a flagship garden village development in Whiston have come to a halt as developers withdrew their proposals “at the last minute.”

Stewart Milne Homes had applied to build 225 houses in a field off Lickers Lane as part of the Halsnead Garden Village project on the edge of Whiston.

Officers at Knowsley Council found a multitude of problems with the plans including poor layout, a lack of affordable homes and an increased flood risk.

The plans, which had been under consideration since October 2018, were recommended for refusal.

But in a twist of events, members at yesterday’s planning committee heard that the developers had withdrawn their plans ” at the last minute” and would therefore be no longer considered by the council.

Knowsley Council’s leader Graham Morgan slammed the decision and said the move was “completely unacceptable.”

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Morgan said: “I hope the applicant is tuning in tonight to listen and there is a clear message from this council and the planning officers that we have been working tirelessly for the last two years with this developer and to withdraw this at the last minute is completely unacceptable.

“There were clear terms laid out by our officers and our officers are not going to be an easy push over.

“I just hope the message to the developer is when they do come back to us with another application they work closely and listen to the advice that has been given by our officers.

“Hopefully they will come back with an acceptable planning application.

“There is a clear message here – we will not be rolled over by any developer coming here into Knowsley and they have got to work with us and they have got to listen to us.”

In a report published ahead of the meeting, planning officers said they were “unable to accept” the developer’s claim that the project would not be financially viable if it had to include 25 per cent affordable homes or more than £956,250 in section 106 payments for infrastructure.

The report said there were “a number of issues” that the developer had failed to respond to and that, in any case, section 106 contributions of around £2.09 million were “required to alleviate the impact of the development and any reduction in this requirement is considered unacceptable”.

Planners criticised the layout of the development, saying it did not comply with the masterplan for the garden village, and said inadequate drainage facilities meant there was a risk of flooding not just to the Stewart Milne Homes site but to the wider garden village as well.

They added that the landowner had kept a £1million “ransom” strip of land around the proposed development site, meaning he could block plans for any infrastructure linking the site to the wider garden village development.

The planning report said: “Far from facilitating comprehensive development – as required by policy – the landowner has acted to put place an artificial barrier to delivering site wide infrastructure.”

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the green village development.

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Plans for 123 homes built in a field off Windy Arbor Road, with another 237 coming at a later date submitted by Bloor Homes and Maro Developments were approved with conditions last night.

Concerns were initially raised regarding the impact of explosive methane gas on the initial stage of the development but planners said this would not be a problem provided the developer took steps to mitigate the risk.

Objections were also raised by residents living nearby who said they had concerns about the development being built on former green belt land.

However, planning officers said that, because the site was currently allocated for residential use, its former status was “not a material consideration.”

The applicant’s agent, Bernard Greep, also spoke at the meeting in support of the application.

Mr Greep read out a statement from the developers which said: “Both parties are eager to secure a planning permission in completion of a section 106 agreement with a view to achieve a start on site before the end of this calendar year.”

However, Cllr Ronald Gaffney did not support the application and said he agreed with a lot of the objections from residents outlined in the report.

He said that when he was younger he used to play around the woodland and so had an “emotional issue” surrounding the plans and believed the land should still be green belt.

Other councillors spoke of their support for the development, including councillors Tony Brennan, Jayne Aston and council leader Graham Morgan.

Previously, the developer had claimed that the site would only be financially viable if it did not have to include any affordable housing and paid just £725,000 towards infrastructure – despite expecting to make nearly £14 million in profit from the scheme.

The council then agreed to drop the affordable housing requirement but said that any reduction in section 106 payments from £3.3 million would not be acceptable.

Members of the council approved the recommendation to grant planning permission with conditions, which included the applicant entering a section 106 agreement and submitting further surveys to the council.

The proposed Halsnead Garden Village would be Merseyside’s largest housing development, including up to 1,600 homes on land previously used for coal mining.