Chelford Parish Council has called a special meeting for next week to discuss controversial plans for a 104-home estate be built on a field in the village.

Barratt & David Wilson Homes want to build the homes on 4.96 hectares of agricultural land off Knutsford Road, east of Chelford Railway Station.

Much of the land is safeguarded for future development in Cheshire East's site allocations development plan document (SADPD), although a narrow strip is designated as green belt.

Parish councillor Mark Shepherd is urging residents to object to the scheme.

Cllr Shepherd told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had moved to the village five years ago and 'it soon became very clear that flooding along the length of the A537 particularly between Monks Heath and Ollerton was a common problem'.

"The frequent flooding events have not been the only problems however," said Cllr Shepherd.

"Our properties are reliant upon septic tanks and soakaways, when the water table rises so does the arrival of rats entering our properties.

"One neighbour has even encountered damage to their driveway where the flooding has reached their front door and in our own case a large crack appeared in the floor of our living room which has cost substantial money to rectify."

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He said existing problems will be exacerbated by building 104 new homes on the field.

"The proposed development will no doubt raise the water table further increasing flooding incidents," he said.

The view down Knutsford Road from the proposed housing site at Chelford (Credit: LDRS)

Cllr Shepherd said changes proposed to the A537 to allow additional traffic to enter the new estate will only increase water flowing down the gradient of the main road and cause more flooding.

"The proposed entrance to the development has also been the scene of many serious speeding accidents, thankfully none fatal to date," he said.

The parish councillor said Chelford has seen two large-scale residential developments in the past eight years which had increased the population of the village by around a third.

This had resulted in the doctors' surgery and primary school being oversubscribed and some children having to travel to other towns and villages.

And he said water pressure and flow rates in the village are extremely low

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"Our limited basic infrastructure has already exceeded breaking point," said Cllr Shepherd.

"Chelford has had little to no investment from Cheshire East Council who collect our council taxes."

And he added the scheme also had wider implications.

"The proposed site currently serves our farming community. Each field represents somebody's livelihood.

"Each field's loss represents a direct increase in food prices.

"This unsustainable green belt land-grab has to stop."

The plans have been submitted by Barratt & David Wilson Homes (Credit: IDPartnership)

Cllr Shepherd is urging villagers to attend the special parish council meeting called to discuss the application.

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The meeting will be held at Chelford Village Hall on July 3 at 8pm.

The planning application, number 25/1584/FUL, can be viewed on the planning portal on Cheshire East Council's website.