CAMPAIGNERS looking to stop development on a green field site are celebrating a planning victory.

Residents in Culcheth had demanded that a bid to put garages on the Culcheth Hall barn site in the village would not only be wrong on green fields, but would break the law.

They argued that a decision taken by a planning inspector last year had ruled that only agricultural development would be allowed in the area and that building a garage block would be illegal.

And councillors on the development control committee meeting last Wednesday night agreed with residents, rejecting their own officer's recommendation to approve the plans.

Frank Waring, who lives on Culcheth Hall Drive told the meeting that he was against the plans.

He added: "The site has been previously classed as a green field site, a garage development would not be an agricultural building and would therefore be unlawful."

Clr Jacqui Johnson, from Culcheth and Glazebury Parish Council, supported the claims of the residents.

She told the meeting at the Gateway Centre: "We are very concerned that the inspector's decision is being ignored."

But committee members were told by planning officers that the scheme was not illegal.

John Groves, development control manager at Warrington Borough Council, said: "This issue is not adversely affected by the green field status because garages do not fall under the same classification as a dwelling."

However councillors voted resoundingly against the plans.