Consultation begins on Mirlees Fields housing and country park plans

MAN Energy Solutions (MAN ES) have opened a public consultation ahead of a planning application to develop Mirlees Fields in Hazel Grove into an informal country park alongside 150 new homes.

Mirlees Fields comprises 53 acres land to the rear of MAN ES UK headquarters in Hazel Grove, owned by the engine manufacturer. The firm propose building 150 homes on 11 acres of the site. The remaining land pass would pass to a community trust in perpetuity to be preserved as a country park, although remain owned by MAN ES.

MAN ES propose that the development would enable unfettered access to the land to the public and allow greater flexibility in how Mirlees Fields can be used by local schools, and other youth groups as well as staff and patients at nearby Stepping Hill Hospital.

Local volunteer group, Mirlees Fields Friends Group, have opposed the proposals however. They object to the loss of local green space in the area as well as lack of local facilities, such as schools and GP places, to support the new homes. Furthermore the group believe that a community trust would not be sufficiently resourced to be able to maintain the country park for public use, opening the remaining land up to further development in the future.

A planning application for the homes is expected to be submitted by November 2020 following the consultation period. Avison Young are planning consultants on the scheme, alongside architects 5plus Architects and Barnes Walker, and transport planners, Curtins.

Views from members of the local community can be submitted via a dedicated consultation website, which also presents further details about the proposed housing development, and associated country park.