I am sure many responses you have received will expound the loss of green belt, the stress on local facilities, the problems with transport infrastructure, and I am wholly in agreement with these points.
However, the real issue is more fundamental. At COP26, World leaders have just acknowledged that something must be done about climate change, and have made the first of many commitments which will direct our future. There will, inevitably, be changes to a whole raft of legislation and Government policies, which are fundamental to planning decisions such as this one.
What we see in the present application is a cynical and panicked attempt by developers to get plans approved quickly, before any forthcoming changes block them. There is, for example, a significant chance that green belt development will be blocked in favour of brownfield development, which the North West has in abundance. Greater stress will be placed on environmental and biodiversity issues, leading to increased costs for developers and a lower success rate in applications of this type.