Government gives green light to Handforth's garden village

gardenvillage

Plans to create a new garden village on the eastern edge of Handforth have been given government backing today (Monday, 2nd January).

The North Cheshire Garden Village is one of 14 new garden villages (smaller settlements of between 1,500 and 10,000 homes) – from Devon to Derbyshire, Cornwall to Cumbria – which will have access to a £6 million fund over the next two financial years to support the delivery of these new projects.

The government says the money will be used to unlock the full capacity of sites, providing funding for additional resources and expertise to accelerate development and avoid delays.

The controversial scheme for 1650 new homes includes schools, health facilities, nurseries, community centres, play areas and sports facilities along with space for new businesses, including shops and cafes. The Cheshire East Local Plan also includes 14ha of land south of the Growth Village which is proposed for safeguarding – for development after 2030.

Cheshire East Council's Development Company, Engine of the North is promoting the new residential and community development which will be located near to Handforth Dean, between the A555 and the A34, and commissioned Hemingway Design to produce a 'vision' document for the village.

Councillor Jamie Macrae, Chairman of Engine of the North said: "The North Cheshire Garden Village could be an exemplar development for the area and back in March we began to discuss with the community the design quality of the proposals. We are really keen to engage as many local people as possible in the debate and really want to know what your views are in shaping the proposal."

Councillor Macrae added: "Our ambition is to create a new innovative approach to residential development creating sustainable communities within a quality environment. We also wish to ensure that any development complements the existing surrounding communities."

However, many locals have raised concerns that the creation of a new village at this site will put a big strain on local infrastructure and increase congestion on the A34 bypass.

Housing and Planning Minister Gavin Barwell said "Locally-led garden towns and villages have enormous potential to deliver the homes that communities need.

"New communities not only deliver homes, they also bring new jobs and facilities and a big boost to local economies. These places combined could provide almost 200,000 homes."

In addition to funding, the government says it will provide support in terms of expertise, brokerage and offer of new planning freedoms.

The new garden projects will also have access to infrastructure funding programmes across government, such as the new £2.3 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund announced at this year's Autumn Statement.

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North Cheshire Garden Village
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Jon Williams
Monday 2nd January 2017 at 1:01 pm
Total Fitness will be happy, anyone else ?
Fiona Doorbar
Tuesday 3rd January 2017 at 6:48 am
Another reason for me to go no where near the damned A34! It will be interesting to see the proposals for improvement of the road infrastructure, school place demand and allocation and the proposed 'affordable' purchase price of these properties...
Mark Eden
Tuesday 3rd January 2017 at 4:17 pm
They should build another railway station behind Pets At Home and a walkway from the development. Obviously I appreciate the Government will have planned for this..............er NOT!
Graham Nicholson
Tuesday 3rd January 2017 at 5:08 pm
It certainly needs some bright thinking about public transport links. That area is very dependent on cars and development will just make the bad traffic problems worse unless there's easy access to the railway. How about a mini-tram or monorail to take people to Handforth and Cheadle Hulme stations?
Bob Bracegirdle
Tuesday 3rd January 2017 at 10:23 pm
What will be fairly certain is that public transport will not be at the forefront of the planning. What will happen is that there will be more cars.
Harry Martin
Wednesday 4th January 2017 at 7:28 pm
Do the words garden village make this place just sound nicer ? We are not fools . The A34 has nose to tail traffic from about 4pm every evening . New residents will love the petrol fumes and all access roads being blocked . What a brilliant idea to discuss public transport as we need these plans included before any building work starts.
Harry Martin
Wednesday 4th January 2017 at 7:28 pm
Do the words garden village make this place just sound nicer ? We are not fools . The A34 has nose to tail traffic from about 4pm every evening . New residents will love the petrol fumes and all access roads being blocked . What a brilliant idea to discuss public transport as we need these plans included before any building work starts.
Adam Fitzpatrick
Wednesday 4th January 2017 at 9:06 pm
If this is necessary, can we be sure that health, transport and communication facilities are adequate. The design of the homes on Adlington Road and Avro sites are quite hideous. Where is the vision for the future, the Hoffhauses, the community digesters and the Tesla solar roofs? Certainly not in those developments which are specifically designed to match housing and society from the 1930's. Rubbish.
Fiona Doorbar
Thursday 5th January 2017 at 7:22 am
I agree with Adam.... the Woodford houses are an eyesore. Old fashioned and dated looking to say the least. If we must build new houses then let's engage with an architect that will produce something that is modern and desirable and fresh.
Duncan Herald
Monday 9th January 2017 at 12:34 pm
Just the matter of design and building materials.
The guys that design/build/sell the new houses are not idiots; if they don't sell the houses, they become unemployed.
I am assumimg that they carry out a lot of market research.

So is it likely that they build houses that they know are wanted i.e. will sell?
So are criticisms of the architect/builder wasted, when realy it is the taste of the house-buying public that is being criticised?

Do not please now accuse me of being a stick-in-the-mud, as I'm all in favour of building with bales and having grassed rooves etc. etc. and bring on the new styles and make houses as energy efficient as can be.

But who will risk capital on a style of housing that may not sell? Also is there perhaps a touch of Nimbyism involved?

Also, where do we all live? I'm in a red-brick and slate roofed house; so I can't criticise those who wish to do the same?