DEVELOPERS have dramatically withdrawn all plans for football pitches on Chorlton Meadows.

The last-minute decision was made by West Didsbury and Chorlton AFC after overwhelming opposition from campaigners and councillors.

Members of the Save Chorlton Meadows campaign were jubilant after the unexpected decision at a planning meeting on Thursday, January 14.

It looked like the plans for the pitches and floodlights were about to be unanimously voted against by councillors.

But at the last minute representatives from the club announced they would withdraw the plans altogether rather than have them rejected.

"We are totally delighted that the Meadows are not going to be developed on," said campaigner Jonathan Green.

"It really is a victory after so many people showed their opposition to the scheme.

"If the club puts in another planning application in future we will fight that too.

"We have made it clear that we cannot see any compromise in terms of full size pitches or flood lighting on the Meadows."

Members of the planning committee had earlier indicated they were unanimously against the development and planned to vote for it to be rejected.

But at the last minute WDC AFC's spokesman announced they were withdrawing the whole application.

He explained: "We have withdrawn the plans because we want time to think about things.

"The football club has a committee meeting next week where we will discuss it.

"Our proposal was never to be confrontational and go for an appeal [if the application was rejected].

"We can see that local members, planning committee members and the community feel that the scheme we have got is not acceptable so we will have to think if there's any other way we can look at it."

Members of the council's planning committee visited the Meadows that morning, where members of the Save Chorlton Meadows group marked out the boundaries of the pitches and floated huge red balloons to show the height and position of the proposed floodlights.

WDC AFC were seeking planning permission for two full-size football pitches, one with an all-weather surface and both with floodlights, along with remodelling of the club house, parking for 70 cars and redirection of the pathway to Jackson's Boat.

A campaign against the development saw more than 1,000 letters of objection sent to the council against the development, hundreds attending protest picnics and carol singing events and a Facebook group with more than 6,000 members.

Following the shock decision to withdraw the plans, MP John Leech, councillors and political candidates queued up to express their delight at the news.

"I am delighted that the committee members listened to local residents and were planning to throw out the application before it was withdrawn.

"We all want to see improvements in local amenities, but these plans were just not right for Chorlton Meadows," said Mr Leech.

"The impact of the all-weather pitch would have been unacceptable. It would have completely changed the meadows, damaging the environment and affecting local residents."

Chorlton Labour councillor Val Stevens added: "I am very pleased. This shows that by working together we can keep green spaces safe."

Labour's Withington candidate Lucy Powell said: "It's excellent news - real testament to people power."

Chorlton Park Lib Dem councillor Norman Lewis, who described the Meadows as 'the peoples' Shangri-La', said: "It's fantastic news. At last the people have been listened to."