Plans for up to 92 homes and employment development on land north of Congleton Road near Macclesfield have been recommended for refusal.

The application relates to a 6.7 hectare greenfield site which forms part of a wider 26 hectare site allocated in the local plan for up to 300 dwellings and 10 hectares of employment land.

But Cheshire East planners argue the submitted masterplan fails to show how this allocated site would be delivered in a coordinated and comprehensive manner and 'it would therefore prejudice the delivery of a site allocated for residential and employment uses'.

A report from the council's planners due to go to next week's meeting of the strategic planning board states: "Through the adoption of the Cheshire East Local Plan, the site has been removed from the green belt and the principle of developing the site for housing and employment uses is acceptable. This proposal would bring economic and social benefits through the delivery of 92 residential units."

But it continues: "The proposal does not provide an agreed masterplan to enable the delivery of a coordinated and comprehensive development on this important allocated site… The masterplan, due to its lack of coordinated approach, would potentially result in unsatisfactory relationship between noise sensitive residential uses and noise generating employment uses without appropriate buffers. It would also fail to provide a readily recognisable boundary with the green belt and a lack of landscape buffer with existing residential properties on Hillcrest Road."

The application, submitted by Jones Homes and Redrow Homes, is in outline with only the access to be determined at this stage, and this would be via a new roundabout junction on Congleton Road.

The council's head of strategic transport has objected to the application saying although the access proposals for the roundabout are acceptable, 'the principal concern is the A536 Flower Pot junction where the developer has assumed that the council's Flower Pot improvement scheme is in place'.

He continues: "It does not assess the impact of the development with the existing arrangement which is over capacity."

The council's environmental protection team has also objected on the basis the proposed industrial uses on the employment site are incompatible with the residential uses and 'have high potential to detrimentally affect residential amenity'.

Objections have also come from Macclesfield Town Council which says it was not notified of the application. It lists a number of concerns including highways.

Gawsworth Parish Council has also objected, saying it considers the application to be 'premature'.

It states: "The parish council considers it is inappropriate for a small portion of a strategic site to come forward for outline planning consent as this prevents a holistic view being taken for the site, particularly with regard to S106 contributions and the provision of on-site facilities."

Cheshire East's planning officers have recommended the application be refused on four grounds. They say it would be prejudicial to the delivery of the site allocation, that insufficient information has been provided on the impact on highways and that there would be a noise impact on future residents.

The planners also say insufficient information has been submitted to allow an assessment of the impact on a number of wildlife species and the Danes Moss Local Wildlife Site. The application site is located 250m from Danes Moss LWS.

The strategic planning board meeting takes place at 10am on Wednesday, July 26 at Macclesfield Town Hall.