Retrospective planning permission has been granted for a temporary Gypsy site in Winsford for a period of up to five years, after the scrapping of HS2 meant the land was no longer needed for the project.

Cheshire West and Chester planning officers rubber-stamped the application to change the use of land at Five Farm Oaks on Nantwich Road into a Gypsy-Traveller site for the stationing of caravans, along with fencing, septic tanks and utility buildings.

Permission was sought for a caravan site subdivided to provide six pitches for Traveller families.

The site is located on the south side of Nantwich Road to the east of the West Coast main railway line which runs between Crewe and Liverpool/ Warrington. The application site measures approximately 170m in length and the plots measure approximately 20m wide.

A previous application for a Gypsy-Traveller site was submitted in 2020 and refused.

A planning document submitted in support of the latest plans said the previous governement’s decision to scrap HS2 high speed rail project should now be considered as a factor, as the land had previously been safeguarded for that project, with construction intended to have begun this year.

The planning document said: “Whilst this application is similar to that considered in 2020, it is not substantially the same.

"There are a number of factors which distinguish this application from the decision taken in 2020.

"These changes are material and they are significant and this is likely to alter the weight given to planning considerations in the determination of this application. The personal circumstances of some of the applicants are also different."

A decision notice said permission was granted but only for named, specific individuals to live there due to what it called ‘special circumstances’. The period granted was five years, or whenever the named individuals have left.