RESIDENTS of a rural Nantwich village look to have scuppered contentious plans for a housing and retail development at the side of the Shropshire Union Canal.

The plans, including 35 homes and two retail units, have been submitted for a site at Canal Side Yard, on Shropshire Street in Audlem.

The first of the two buildings would front onto Shropshire Street and involve nine apartments and the retail units, with access under an archway formed by the property.

The second block, a three-storey building located behind the other, would include some 24 flats. The proposals would also include 37 car parking spaces.

But the plans have sparked a string of objections from residents and community groups, including Audlem parish councillors, who said they would be 'detrimental to the character and appearance of the conservation area'.

The Council for the Protection of Rural England said the buildings were too dominant and that 'wooden cladding, false warehouse doors and lifting beams represent an inappropriate attempt to make the building appear as part of the canal's history.'

The Audlem and District Amenities Society said there were 'serious concerns' about the density of the development and inadequate parking provision where the village already suffers from congestion.

And the Inland Waterways Association described it as 'unsympathetic' to the adjacent Audlem Mill and the attractive canalside landscape currently pictured on national tourist leaflets.

Forty-nine residents echoed these sentiments in written objections to planning chiefs, one adding: "The development is an attempt to provide a themed building, but the reason the village has character is because it is genuine, not fake."

Others pointed to already high pressures on the village's amenities, saying that the school is full, the surgery over-subscribed and the sewerage system inadequate.

Those in favour of the development said it would improve the centre of the village, providing low-cost housing and additional shopping facilities.

A council planning officer, recommending refusal of the application, said: "To allow the development would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the conservation area as well as this part of the Shropshire Union Canal.

"Both buildings would be over-dominant in relation to other buildings in the street and the village as a whole."

Borough councillors will make a decision at a meeting of the development control committee in Crewe on Tuesday.