PLANS for 380 homes in Northwich on part of the old Wade Works site look set for the go ahead, despite the concerns of local councillors over contamination, traffic congestion and road safety.

Nuvu Development Ltd, which is owned by social housing provider Your Housing Group, lodged plans for a development off Hargreaves Road on land between Bowden Drive and Griffiths Park.

The proposals were originally for 395 properties but have been reduced. They would include a mix of housing types and tenures from one bed flats to four bedroom homes, with 30 per cent earmarked for affordable housing – although this could rise to 70 per cent.

The 13.4 hectare site is a mix of greenfield and brownfield land. The eastern part was taken up by the former ICI Wade Works Site. The western side of the site, accessed off Hargreaves Road, was historically a brickworks but was now mostly covered by grassland. An area adjacent to James Street was previously used as allotments.

Remediation of the site is currently underway and the new scheme is recommended for approval at a meeting of Cheshire West and Chester’s planning committee tomorrow (April 5).

A submission by Northwich Town Council said that while provision of affordable homes was welcome, contamination on the site needed to be identified and dealt with.

In a report to the planning committee, the town council’s submission, added: “James Street is narrow and should not be used to access the development, Hargreaves Road should be used to minimise neighbour disturbance. Middlewich Road suffers congestion and the junction with Hargreaves Road should be signalised.”

There were similar concerns raised by Rudheath Parish Council which feared an increase in road accidents.

The report outlined its concerns as: “Middlewich Road is close to its design capacity; and traffic backs up to Broken Cross Bridge; and frequently backs up past Shipbrook Road with cars trying to access Northwich at peak times.

"Northwich traffic flow accessing the A556 through Rudheath finds it notoriously difficult to access King Street over the Broken Cross Bridge. Adding further traffic from this development has potential for more accidents.”

But recommending approval, the officers' report added: “It should be demonstrated that the additional traffic can be accommodated safely and satisfactorily within the existing, or proposed, highway network, and that satisfactory arrangements can be made to accommodate the additional traffic before the development is brought into use.

“The resultant traffic generation impacts on the surrounding network would not be considered to bring about a likely additional severe detrimental impact either in highway safety or congestion terms. Subject to appropriate planning obligations and conditions, there are no objections.”