A DEVELOPMENT company is hoping to market grazing land at Styal to property speculators, sending shockwaves out among guardians of the green belt.
Property Spy, which bought a 10 acre field at Birch Farm, Hollin Lane, for £145,000 has pegged out individual plots on the site which it hopes to sell off for up to £18,000 each.
Spokesman Nikki Simpson said the aims were to attract speculative buyers seeking long term investment opportunities. In the meantime sites could be used to graze a cow, enjoy picnics or grow vegetables.
But ward Councillor Margaret Bradley warned let-the-buyer-beware: "There is as much chance of planning permissison as winning the National Lottery," she said.
Nevertheless there were fears of a future threat to greenbelt land across the borough, as a new breed of investors emerges to test planning law to its limits.
It is the first time the company, based in Hertfordshire, has bid for land in the Macclesfield borough.
Ms Simpson said: "Property Spy pioneered the sale of investment plots in the UK and has been at the forefront of the trend of land investment.
"It markets sites as a long-term speculative investment on a similar proposition as speculative stocks and shares. The land is usually designated as green belt and is sold without planning permission.
"The company is aiming to broaden the opportunity for land ownership and make it possible for people who would typically be excluded from the benefits of ownership of land. The price of green belt land makes collective ownership a possibility."
The firm has over 20 sites in 14 counties. And there are over 20 plots available on the Styal site which start from £12,450 rising to around £18,000. Plot sizes vary from an eighth to a quarter of an acre.
On land value, Ms Simpson added: "Last week, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors published a survey on the rural land market, concluding that farmland is being targeted by a new breed of investors, fuelling demand and raising land prices. Overall prices have risen by up to 30 per cent in 12 months and 130 per cent since the early 1990s.
Asked about the plots being used for caravan or travellers' sites, she said: "Travellers or gipsies are interested in larger acreage. It is not Property Spy's policy to sell to travellers. We have been approached by travellers in the past but they are not interested in the land we sell because of the plot sizes."
Coun Bradley fears some speculators will buy in the hope of winning planning permission when the borough-wide freeze on new housing developments is lifted in 2011.
But she said long term investors could hit the jackpot in 30 years time, if planning authorities are bombarded with new planning applications putting fresh pressure on green belt sites.
"As soon as I saw the sign, I spoke to planning and legal officers at Macclesfield Borough Council. Property Spy has done nothing illegal - putting a few pegs in land you own is not illegal - but this seems an odd case.
Mike Farley, of Styal Village Association, added: "The association shares the concerns expressed by many residents and councillors regarding this land.
"The field was part of four lots sold recently at auction and was described as grazing land in the green belt.
"Our understanding is that green belt exists to protect the countryside landscape, its ecological and agricultural value, and its visual amenity.
Therefore, we're not happy with the sale of this land for investment purposes."
