Construction Set to Start on Royal Gardens Housing Development
- Mar 1
- 3 min read
Yesterday, Thursday 26th February 2026, saw the reserved matters for the New Royal Gardens development off Froghall Road in Cheadle discussed and agreed at the SMDC planning meeting, Stockwell Street, Leek.
While outline planning (the decision for the development to go ahead) had been approved for this second phase of the Persimmon Homes development, reserved matters on this application for access, layout, scale, appearance, and landscaping have not been approved.
Northern Director of Persimmon Homes, Ian Halliker, and Councillor Matthew Spooner spoke in favor of why the development should be built, while residents Jeff Wood and Bernard Charlesworth spoke against it. Jeff, as site manager for the Silver Street Caravan and Static Homes, spoke mainly about the loss of the view he and his tenants had enjoyed of the countryside for many years, and how this peaceful view would be lost due to the development. Bernard highlighted the problems of maintenance of the surface water drainage, the narrow road in front of the proposed school being blocked by parents during the school run, and the lack of provision for an acoustic fence for Silver Street residents to reduce noise and dust pollution during construction.
Head of Planning, Ben Haywood, said that he will ensure a maintenance agreement is set up regarding surface drainage. An acoustic fence will be the first priority for the builders, but the issue of school parking is outside his control, as this will be the sole responsibility of the county council.
Silent, but in the public gallery, was County Councillor Gary Bentley. COGNEWS hopes he will have some influence on the school parking arrangements, even if it’s not his ward, it was good to see him at this important meeting.
Councillor Matt Spooner expressed his satisfaction with the biodiversity net gain achieved in this development. We anticipate seeing how he, as the ward councillor for this area, will influence the upcoming decisions.
Cllrs Ian Plant & Vicky Whieldon are the Cheadle representative on the district council's planning committee, present at the meeting but did not add to the discussion.
Ian Halliker, Persimmons Northern Managing Director, spoke about how Persimmons wants to ensure local people stay in local homes and informed the meeting of their local homes guarantee. This is a scheme where 50 percent of the homes in this development will be reserved for local people or those with a strong local connection for the first six months.
Planning Officer Heywood and Cllr Spooner expressed their disappointment that the site will be mostly for 3 and 4-bedroom family homes.
Site of the new development.
Bernard spoke to the Northern Director of Persimmons, Ian Halliker, after the meeting, who told him he would ensure that the footpath by the side of the development would be kept open during the building process, and any problems would be addressed by Quin Cordeux, the proposed site manager for Phase II, or by himself.
Both Bernard and Jeff have Quinn's phone number in case of problems occurring during construction.
The meeting was recorded on 26 February from 2:20 p.m. and is available for public access by typing the following into a computer browser: https://staffsmoorlands.public-i.tv. Then scroll until you find “February 2026 Planning Applications Committee” and press the play symbol to see and hear what was said word for word.
COGNEWS will keep you up to date online and in print.
Construction Set to Start on Royal Gardens Housing Development - created 27th February 2026
