THE owners of Wharf Cottage in Weaverham have received rousing support from neighbours over their plans to demolish and rebuild an exact replica of their home.

The owners of the Sandy Lane property say they have been ‘living under the threat of flooding’ for some time, but recently it has become a ‘yearly occurrence’.

Following the recent flooding across the borough in January, they came up with a unique response to combat the water levels — ‘to demolish the existing property and rebuild it to the same plan and design’ 60cm off the ground, according to architects Deluxe.

Now, multiple nearby residents have given their support to the plans online.

One said: “Following the devastating floods in January 2021, internally flooding around 31 properties in this pound, it is essential that residents along Sandy Lane are allowed to raise the height of their property to mitigate future floods.

“Climate change, flood defences in Northwich, extensive building in Winnington, lack of dredging and disinvestment in the Weaver mean that we now expect serious floods to take place on a regular basis, and in fact have occurred twice in 16 months.

“As neighbours, we fully support this application.”

Another added: “People and businesses along the stretch of Sandy Lane and the River Weaver have been severely affected as a result of the October 2019 and January 2021 flooding; causing health, safety and environmental issues; not to mention commercial implications.

“The application to raise the level of the building is the most logical method to mitigate the building being submerged in any future floods since it shall make the building safe throughout its future lifetime [and] be appropriately flood resistant and resilient against any future floods.

“As a neighbour to this planning application of Wharf Cottage, I offer my full support and no objections to this planning application.”

The supportive comments are accompanied by a suggestion from Weaverham Parish Council that the owners look at using a ‘raft design’.

That suggestion is one of three seeking clarity over the plans

One neighbour said: “There appears to be an error on the proposed elevations, they show only five steps to navigate the circa 2m change in level.

“The proposed elevations should be updated to show the true height of the building above ground level so its visual impact can be properly assessed.”

There is also a call for more cycling provision from the Chester Cycling Campaign.

You can view the details of the application on CWAC’s planning portal using reference ‘21/00391/FUL’.