Two planning applications that came to Cheadle Area Committee on Tuesday illustrate some of the frustrations councillors have with the planning system.

One is to further develop the tennis courts at Baxter Park – with new and refurbished courts.

The other – linked – is to replace the (now unused) tennis courts in Cheadle between Brookside Close and Mornington Road in Cheadle with five new houses (four semi-detatched and one detatched) to be accessed from Brookside Close.

Good cases were made for and against both proposals. The tennis club sees this as a good way to expand a little and improve its facilities, and attract more members.

Residents on Penrhos Avenue in Gatley were very reasonably concerned about possible traffic and parking problems, not least because Penrhos is such as narrow road and – as a close – should be a great place for children to play.

Residents on Mornington Road and Brookside Close also had sensible concerns about parking, privacy and property prices among others.

If this was a non-planning issue, councillors would normally debate both sides and seek to come to a view as to the best option – perhaps one position or the other, or maybe a compromise of some sort.

But planning is quasi-judicial and the job of councillors is different. On planning issues, our role is to decide whether the planning application complies with our planning rules. If we believe an application does comply, we have to approve it. Were we not to, the applicant would appeal, they’d win the appeal, they’d be able to develop anyway and we’d be left with a hefty bill.

In this case, we explored the applications and there were no reasons not to approve the applications, so I felt both had to be approved.

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