CAMPAIGNERS WIN BATTLE TO STOP BULLDOZERS

CREWE'S Berkeley Towers has been saved from the developer's bulldozers after months of campaigning.

The historic building has been under threat of demolition since early this year when Barretts began developing the site.

The company wanted to knock down the former MAFF building to make way for houses but met with strong opposition from local residents and councillors.

The developers hit further setbacks when they were snubbed at a planning meeting where councillors unanimously voted to deny permission to knock the towers down.

Barretts has now lost its appeal against the decision as the Planning Inspectorate backed up in full the decision of the Crewe and Nantwich planning committee.

Councillors Margaret Simon and Michael Kinsey have headed a campaign involving hundreds of residents to save the towers.

Cllr Simon said everyone was delighted at the decision and their months of hard work have finally paid off.

"The reaction has been massive, my phone was red hot on Friday when the decision was made," said Cllr Simon.

"A lot of time and effort has gone into fighting to save the Towers and we were amazed with the local support. The whole of the council supported us and wanted to save the building," she added.

The Towers, while not being officially listed is labelled as a site of local historic interest which gave the Planning Inspectorate grounds to refuse the appeal.

"As well as the Towers they also wanted to pull down some mature trees and fill in the pond and we wanted to make sure they would all be protected," explained Cllr Simon.

Local residents were present at the meeting of the Planning Inspectorate and were also there at the site visit and they all had a chance to voice their opinion.

"The developers are experts at this and the fact that we had a lot of people there to put their case over showed that we did consider it important and Barretts did not," added Cllr Simon.

Planning officer Shaun Coghlan headed the council's case at the appeal and was pleased the Inspectorate backed up the views of the residents.

The Inspectorate refused the appeal on three grounds including loss of a locally listed building and also ruled that Barretts were not making enough of the space as they were only planning three houses.

"The Inspectorate agreed with the council's grounds for refusal, it was a very good result," said Mr Coghlan.

"We have not got a lot left in the way of historic buildings in Crewe and we could not have allowed this to go," added Cllr Simon.

A Barretts spokesman said: "We are considering our position and what options are open to us in light of the decision."

Barretts is expected to resort to the original plan of turning the Towers into luxury apartments.