WARRINGTON North MP Helen Jones has called on the next council leader to protect Peel Hall from development – if a developer’s plans for the site are thwarted.

A report on the appeal against the council’s decision to refuse Satnam’s proposals to build 1,200 homes on the land was sent to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in October.

The Planning Inspectorate has confirmed a decision will be made by January 7.

Council leader Cllr Terry O’Neill will formally step down from his role before December’s full council meeting.

A Labour group meeting to select the new leader will be held next Thursday, with the new person in charge at the Town Hall expected to officially take over at December’s full council meeting.

And Labour’s Mrs Jones has issued a plea to the next leader.

She said: “I understand that we are close to a decision on Peel Hall being announced and I hope it will rule in favour of the council’s decision to reject the latest planning application.

“However, Peel Hall does appear in the council’s SHLAA (Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment) document with a recommended gross capacity of 1,200.

“They say the site is considered to be ‘suitable, available and achievable’.

“When I raised concerns that this was an open invitation to developers, the council confirmed that they were ‘not opposed to any development at the site – subject to the necessary infrastructure being delivered’.

“If the public inquiry rules against the current planning application, the council must reverse its current policy to retain, within the local plan, plans to develop the site.”

But Mrs Jones says she fears that council officers ‘are very much in favour’ of building on Peel Hall in the future.

She added: “Therefore, we need a political decision to reverse this policy and I call upon the new council leader, whoever that may be, to publicly pledge support for the thousands of people in Warrington North, including borough and parish councillors, who have opposed any development on Peel Hall, by taking such plans out of the local plan and firmly committing to keep the last big green space in north Warrington free from development.”