CONTROVERSIAL plans for a 27-home estate on the historic gateway to Cockermouth have now been given the green light.

The plans were previously turned down because of their proximity to a landmark Georgian mansion.

The proposals for Low Road were thrown out in April by Allerdale’s planning panel amid fears that the houses would spoil the area around The Fitz.

But there are some new faces on the committee following May’s election and this crop of councillors voted the plans through after hearing that the developer had pledged to move some of the planned homes back by 10 metres.

Gillian Telford, speaking on behalf of the Civic Trust and Cockermouth Vision, argued back in April that the houses were “ill-placed” and would cause “immeasurable harm” to the historic countryside setting.

Valerie Leach was listed to speak against the scheme on behalf of Ms Telford at yesterday’s (October 1) meeting, but no one came forward and the planning panel heard only from the agents for the developer.

Graeme Ives, a Cockermouth-based heritage planning consultant stressed “heavy tree cover” between the Fitz and the housing development created a “screen”.

He said the development would have a “neutral impact” on the views to and from The Fitz, adding: “We can see no justification for refusing the scheme on heritage grounds.”

Agent Michael Sandelands said that the development would include an “important” flood resilience scheme bringing “benefits” to Cockermouth, parts of which were inundated in 2009 and 2015.

Responding to concerns over the loss of trees and foliage associated with the scheme, he claimed that the plans would result in a “net gain” in hedgerows of 431 metres which “substantially outweighed” the small losses from the creation of an access road.

The meeting also heard that the applicant Bob Slack had offered to move four plots 10 metres westward, away from the Fitz, though everything else was identical to the plans rejected by the panel in April.

Mr Slack has also pledged secure a cycleway from Cockermouth town centre, through the estate, which Mr Sandelands said would “mitigate” car use.

But Janet Farebrother, Labour councillor for Broughton St Bridgets, said she couldn’t see any “material difference” between the original and revised proposals.

She recommended that the panel endorse the earlier decision made in April to refuse the application in the interests of “consistency”.

She was backed by fellow Labour councillor Joan Ellis, representing Christchurch in Cockermouth, who said there were a “number of issues” with the development.

She said: “Certainly in Cockermouth, we have an over-supply of housing which is one of the reasons why the Laureates (a nearby housing scheme) phase two has been mothballed.

“It’s the entrance to Cockermouth, which is a gem town which must be protected. The traffic along Low Road, particularly at certain times of day, is at capacity and, at times, is quite dangerous.”

She said the heritage of the whole area has been “compromised” as a result of the Parklands estate and the Laureates estate, adding: “And here we have another estate, albeit much smaller than the two that I have mentioned.”

But councillor Alan Tyson, representing Cockermouth’s All Saints ward, moved a successful motion that the plans be passed according to officers’ recommendations. A proposal to build a B&M superstore nearby, rejected by the panel, is still the subject of an appeal now being considered by the planning inspector, with a decision expected in several weeks.