CAMPAIGNERS fighting plans for a 225-home development in Knutsford have been boosted by news the land has been made a formal Local Wildlife Site.

The site, which is east of Longridge, was removed from the Green Belt in 2017 as part of the Cheshire East Local Plan and an application from Dewscope Ltd to build homes there is due to be considered by Cheshire East at the end of January.

But Knutsford residents say the land has become a re-wilded meadow after not being farmed for 50 years and is now home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna, birds and insects.

Now their campaign to stop the development has added weight after the Longridge land was designated a Local Wildlife Site (LWS) and part of it is also now officially Designated Ancient Woodland.

Campaigner John Finnan said:  “We provided Cheshire Wildlife Trust with bird, butterfly and pond surveys for the re-wilded fields and ancient woodland at Longridge. This was enough to convince them to survey it for themselves and, after a long wait, it has finally been officially designated as a Local Wildlife Site (LWS)."

A report from the council’s nature conservation officer to Cheshire East Council’s planning department states: “As of the Local Wildlife Steering Group meeting of November 23, 2022, the application site has been selected as a Local Wildlife Site due to the grassland, mammal and amphibian assemblages which qualify the site for Local Wildlife Site selection under the Local Wildlife Site Selection Criteria.”

It details the planning policy which is relevant in determining the application and continues: “This policy requires that the reasons/benefits of proposed development should outweigh their predicted impacts on a Local Wildlife Site. I advise that there will be a significant adverse impact on the Local Wildlife Site as a consequence of the direct loss of habitat resulting from the proposed development.”

Cheshire Wildlife Trust has already objected to the 225-home proposal.

This latest development has led to a further objection, with the Trust saying, according to the relevant planning policy ‘development is unlikely to be considered acceptable at the site’.

In an email to the council, Ross Harding, senior planning and ecology officer at Cheshire Wildlife Trust, said: “In light of the formal designation of the site as Longridge Local Wildlife Site (LWS) we wish to re-iterate our objection to the application.”

He said the ‘full weight’ of the relevant Local Plan policies should be considered when the application is being determined.

“We would also like to highlight that the site now qualifies as an area of High Habitat Distinctiveness in the context of the Knutsford Neighbourhood Plan (KNP),” added the ecology officer. “As such, development is unlikely to be considered acceptable at the site in line with KNP Policy E3.”

The land has long been a treasured nature reserve for locals over the past years.

One resident still has his school projects from more than 40 years ago where he documented details and drew pictures of numerous plants, wildlife and trees at the Longridge site.

He also wrote to Prince Charles last year about the threat to the woodland and meadows at Longridge.