Plans for a new estate in Hale Village have been given the thumbs up despite concerns over school parking.

Halton Council’s development management committee voted to approve an application by Knight Hill Homes for 13 properties in the heart of the village.

The site is on land bounded by Church End and Town Lane, which is in the Hale Village Conservation Area.

The application includes three mews houses with three bedrooms, four semi-detached houses with four bedrooms, and six detached properties – two of which are three bedroomed and four with four bedrooms.

The new estate would be located near an entrance to Hale C.E Primary School with some concerns being raised at the meeting about parking.

Addressing the council’s highways officer, committee member Cllr Dave Thompson said: "The fact is that access and egress into this site is an issue."

He added: “My experience of school sites, and I live by a school site, is I don't see the markings because they’re under the cars.

"Unfortunately, these challenges are there and it's a really difficult nut to crack. I hope in two years time we're not talking about it again."

The council’s highways officer told member the plan was to install bollards on the pavement along part of Town Lane. He also said the presence of home driveways would be a deterrent to people looking to park there.

The planned houses are a combination of two and 2.5 storey properties with accommodation in the roof space. The three mews houses would be classed as ‘affordable’, capped at £250k with anyone who buys one having to fulfil specific, government-defined criteria.

The site is allocated as a residential development site with capacity for 12 houses by the Halton Delivery and Allocations Local Plan (DALP) a document which was voted in last year and outlines the borough’s planning strategy up until 2037.