A councillor has urged campaigners to prepare for a tough battle at appeal over plans for 880 homes near Shavington.
Developers have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate over their bid to build the “Gresty Oaks” site on green land bounded by Crewe Road, Rope Lane, Gresty Lane and the A500.
Himor Group Limited, based in Manchester, say Cheshire East Council failed to determine the application in time.
And they are following the lead of other developers such as Gladman and Muller Homes looking to build in Wistaston and Nantwich, by taking it to appeal.
But Rope and Willaston Cllr Brian Silvester (pictured) said: “This application would virtually destroy the Green Gap and the beautiful open countryside between Rope and Shavington and would be the latest step towards joining Crewe up with its surrounding villages.
“Rope Lane is the main route to Shavington High School and Crewe Road is the main route into Crewe. Both roads are congested and dangerous now at peak times.
“To have an additional 1,600 cars added to the traffic movements can only lead to horrendous highway congestion and add to the accident and pollution problems.
“The proposed two accesses to the site were both in the proximity of hump back bridges and this would have resulted in visibility problems with oncoming traffic and the possibility of accidents.
“The watercourses in the area already flood when there is substantial rain and a development of this size would only make that problem worse.
“The farmland involved is of mainly high quality and should not be used for housing. The developers are promising infrastructure investment to serve the proposed huge increase in the population of Rope and Shavington.
“Unfortunately, we know from experience in Crewe and Nantwich, that community facilities promised often don’t materialise until years after the houses have been occupied, if at all.
“In summary there were good planning reasons to refuse this application. I strongly feel that applications like this should be rejected.
“It was huge in size, it would overpower the existing villages, it was detrimental to the open countryside, it impinged massively on the green gap between our towns and was unsustainable.
“This particular battle has been won but we must now gird up our loins to fight the forthcoming appeal.”
He has called on residents to voice continued opposition along with parish councils in Willaston and Shavington and borough councillors.
Hang on a second, didn’t he try and sell his own land for housing just a month ago?