A CONTROVERSIAL application to build houses on a disused car park at Mid Cheshire College has been given the green light by Vale Royal Borough Council.

Council planning officials had originally recommended that the scheme, put forward by the college, should be rejected and this view was supported by a Government inspector.

But at the council's planning committee last month, the controlling Labour group agreed that the plan could go ahead.

That decision was ratified last week at a full Vale Royal Borough Council meeting when outline planning permission for housing on the Hartford site was granted by a narrow majority.

The plans, which are subject to special conditions, were approved on the basis that the proposed site is brownfield land and falls within Government development guidelines.

Councillors have insisted that the scheme can only go ahead if provision is made for traffic management measures and that access and parking is made available for Hartford Manor County Primary School. The college will also be obliged to allow increased public access to college facilities.

Cash from the sale of the car park is likely to be used to provide an educational resource centre and extra classrooms at the college.

Speaking against the plans, which could pave the way for as many as 100 homes, Hartford councillor Keith Musgrave said: "This land was not allocated in the borough's plan.

"The inspector, in his report clearly stated that the land should only be used if the borough council could not meet its housing budget."

Clr Shirley Harris added: "The proposed application is against the adopted and emerging local plan and it is therefore a departure"

A further concern is that the proposed site is situated near the centre of Hartford's split site high school.

By building houses on the site, it is feared that the risk to students will be greatly increased and that the movement between the separated lower and upper school will be severely restricted.

As the plans represent a departure from the area's development plan they will go to the Secretary of State for final adjudication.