A planning application to build a new house on Green Belt land in Biddulph Moor has been refused this week.

The outline application, submitted by a Mrs Baker, sought permission to build a two-storey detached house on land opposite 11, Sprink View.

The property would've been set into the land's hillside, and would've have a footprint of around 100 square metres.

Twelve letters from local residents were received in response to the application, all of which objected to the plans.

One of these, selected at random, by Heather Shutt of Woodhouse Lane, raised concerns regarding the roads and stone walls near the site.

It read: " I have been resident on Biddulph Moor 69 years and am aware of how narrow the lanes are in this area, [as well as] stone walls falling down and the road due to collapse due to the amount of traffic that goes across there."

Biddulph Town Council also objected to the application on the grounds of access and congestion. They argued that the plans didn't represent infill development in the Green Belt location, and that it did not include any special considerations that would make it suitable for approval.

On the other hand, the application's supporting statement, by Jonathan Hargreaves of Epoch Architecture, argued that the adverse impacts of the plan would not "significantly and demonstrably" outweigh its benefits.

It stated that although the application didn't adhere to the council's development plan, permission should be granted due to the council's current inability to demonstrate a five-year housing supply in its Local Plan.

The council's planning officers, however, disagreed, with officer Ben Haywood writing in the decision that the plans: "would amount to inappropriate development".

He continued: "The proposal is not found to meet any of the exceptions for development in the Green Belt as set out in national policy nor are there found to be any very special circumstances to otherwise permit the development.

"The proposal would not overall improve the economic, social and environmental conditions of the area nor does it comply with the development plan and therefore does not comprise sustainable development.

"There were no amendments to the scheme, or conditions which could reasonably have been imposed, which could have made the development acceptable and it was therefore not possible to approve the application."

To see the application and its supporting documents in full, visit the relevant page of the council's website here.