SUPPORTERS of the Wincham Urban Village are hopeful a special meeting will keep the proposal in the public eye.

In April the village was dealt a blow when land south of Chapel Street - earmarked for retail and industrial use with space for around 600 affordable homes - was left out of the Vale Royal Local Plan.

Wincham Parish Council has said it wants to keep the urban village at the forefront of the developer's minds fearing that the consortium of landowners would be tempted to pursue their own developments.

At the council's last meeting, parish and borough Clr Ann McEllin told councillors she had asked Jeremy Owens, head of environmental policy at Vale Royal Borough Council, for advice on how to promote the scheme.

She said: "He said he would be happy to come and talk to us but the other thing he would propose is asking Alison Freeman to come and talk to us and that would give us an opportunity to ask her what she thought plans were within the consortium."

Council chairman Roy Mainwaring said: "It's of such importance for this village it probably warrants a special meeting to discuss just that matter. We should invite them both here to say what their plans are."

Clr McEllin added: "I think there might be temptation among some private owners to go forward with their own plans but as a parish council you want it to come forward as one plan.

"I also think it's important for us to tell Vale Royal that we're very keen for this because in the inspector's report he seemed to prefer sites rather than ours such as the Middlewich Road area, which people don't want to support. We've got the opposite here - people actually want it."

Cty Clr Malcolm Byram added: "The quicker you arrange this the better because as soon as the Winnington development happens the over supply of housing will rule it out completely."

The council agreed to invite Alison Freeman, from Emery Planning Partnership, and Jeremy Owens to take part in a meeting.