Plan to convert historic stables into homes approved

Plans to turn the 100-year-old stable into eight homes have been given the go-ahead

Plans to turn historic stables in Delamere into eight new homes have been approved – six years after proposals were initially submitted.

Cheshire West and Chester’s planning department has rubber-stamped a retrospective application by Chamberlain Developments to convert Sandy Brow Stables on Tarporley Road. The 100-year-old stable yard is located at the junction of Chester Road and Tarporley Road.

Planning documents said permission had originally been granted in 2018 on the understanding that the stable walls would require upgrades and repairs, and that a ‘high percentage’ of timber would have to be replaced.

But a structural report completed in 2021 advised that in fact all the structural timbers would have to be replaced, and that the timber stable buildings were found to be contaminated with asbestos.

A further application was approved in April 2022 for six dwellings.

A meeting between council planning officers and the developers later in 2022 resulted in planning officers saying they no longer thought the project was classed as a residential conversion, but a redevelopment of the stable blocks.

The developer said it ‘did not accept’ the council’s position but agreed to submit a new application to ‘remedy the council’s concerns’ on the understanding that a decision would be forthcoming quickly.

The new application is for conversion into eight dwellings.

A document submitted in support of the development, said: “Notwithstanding the fact this planning application may be considered to be partly retrospective due to the stage of the development, the case must be considered on its own planning merits in the same way as other applications.”

Delamere and Oakmere Parish Council had objected to the plans on highways grounds as the development was on a major junction of the A54 and A49.

Approving the plans, a decision notice issued by the council, said: “The development shall not be occupied until a scheme for protecting the dwellings from road noise has been submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority.”

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