An angry town councillor has launched a campaign to prevent Cheshire East Council from disposing of a public open space near allotments in Alsager.

Dumbfounded Cllr Sue Helliwell only stumbled on the plan to dispose of the council owned space off Talke Road two days ago.

The closing date for comments is today (December 31st) leaving little or no time for Cllr Helliwell and friend Jo Dale to start a petition.

Instead Cllr Helliwell copied the information and leafleted 150 houses near the area which is currently used for walking and dog walking.

And she has written to Cheshire East requesting an extension so more people can send their comments in about the proposal.

Cllr Helliwell says the disposal would not only affect wildlife and fauna but also the mental well-being of local residents who use the area to walk.

She said: "We're just getting through the pandemic and lots of people use this green space to exercise and walk their dogs.

"It's a daily meeting place for many and during Covid people have found it a valuable place to meet and talk.

"Above anything I have severe concerns about how the houses directly on the back can get to their bins and get to the back of their properties.

"This just hasn't been thought through. I've asked for an extension and I am hoping we get it.

"I can't sleep properly because I am so worried about this and just wondering what we can do."

The piece of land, which once housed railway sheds and is ex-industrial land, backs on to the railway line and is near the Talke Road allotments.

Jo Dale, former Alsager town councillor and former parliamentary candidate, is helping Cllr Helliwell with the campaign.

Her concerns are that Talke Road would not be able to cope with the extra traffic if the land was sold off for housing.

She said: "It's already a difficult junction without extra traffic. We need trees planting and the land kept for bio diversity not selling off for development.

"There's already a bottleneck on Talke Road why would we need more traffic and how would the road cope with this?"

Cheshire East was approached by Sandbach Nub News for a comment but at the time of publishing a reply had not been received.

The Cheshire East email address for comments is: [email protected] quoting reference number FLW 040633