A CREMATORIUM likened to an Italian garden is under threat after councillors unanimously rejected two bids to save it.

Developer Sandy Gohil submitted two planning applications to Cheshire West and Chester Council in an attempt to keep his Lach Dennis crematorium as it currently is.

The development was approved following an appeal in 2013, subject to set conditions on its appearance and character to fit in with mid Cheshire’s countryside.

But with ‘extensive’ hard landscaping, plants which are not native to Lach Dennis and yellow brickwork, the end result has not matched up to the expectations of five years ago.

Cllr Kathy O’Donoghue, member of Lach Dennis Parish Council, told the committee: “We have witnessed non-compliance on this site for over two years. After hundreds of letters, emails, a retrospective planning application refusal and enforcement notice served, it still goes on.

“The applicant has shown a complete disregard for the planning system, and from the very beginning has wilfully implemented a scheme totally at variance to that that was approved.”

Planning agent Nicole Wright told the committee her client had bought the site after it was given planning permission, and that the new owners ‘had some different ideas’.

She later angered councillors by suggesting ‘professional, qualified’ officers had recommended the scheme for approval.

“These proposals have been duly assessed by your qualified officers and considered to be adequate,” Ms Wright said.

“Our client, the applicant, has been very patient with the council in preparing and negotiating these solutions so I would urge you to approve this application with this in mind.”

Cllr Mark Stocks, Conservative member for Shakerley, said he was ‘appalled’ by Ms Wright’s remarks – having represented Lach Dennis for 26 years ‘as a qualified councillor’.

He said: “The reality is an application was approved by an inspector. The application that has been delivered and constructed bears absolutely no relationship to what was approved by that inspector.

“What has been constructed does not fit in with the community one iota. It neither blends in or is disguised in any way, shape or form.”

Cllr Jill Houlbrook, Conservative, added: “All I can say is that this application is an eyesore in the Cheshire countryside. I feel extremely sorry for the residents who have had to put up with this for years and years and years.

“OK fine, as councillors we may not be professionals – but what we do, we do for the best of our communities.”