Cheshire East Council has today sealed the formal adoption of its Local Plan which sets out the overall vision and planning strategy for development in Cheshire East and allocates 900 new homes for Wilmslow and 2200 new homes for Handforth by 2030.
Approval by a meeting of full council today (Thursday, 27th July) follows three years of submissions and 11 separate rounds of public consultation which generated a total of more than 60,000 comments - which represents an unprecedented level of interest in a council consultation process.
Councillor Rachel Bailey, leader of Cheshire East Council said today: "It has been a long and sometimes difficult journey but we understood the importance of getting this blueprint right – and the adoption of our Local Plan is great news for the people of Cheshire East.
"The Local Plan is the council's most important tool for shaping development in Cheshire East to 2030 – so today is a landmark for this authority, local businesses and our residents."
Councillor Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East cabinet member for housing and planning, said: "The planning inspector acknowledged that our Local Plan was one of the most complex and consulted upon he had seen in his more than 20 years' experience.
"There has been a tremendous response from our residents and other stakeholders during the very extensive rounds of public consultations and I'm sure it has allowed everyone to feel they had the opportunity to have their say on the plan.
"Our Local Plan has been shown to be both comprehensive and robust and will give the people of Cheshire East its best protection against unplanned and unsustainable development. It also gives shape to where future growth in housing, employment and infrastructure will be accommodated within our borough."
Planning Inspector Mr Pratt said in his final report in June: "I consider the overall development strategy for Cheshire East, including the provision for housing and employment land, is soundly based, effective, deliverable, appropriate, locally distinctive and justified by robust, proportionate and credible evidence and is positively prepared and consistent with national policy."
Sean Hannaby, the council's director of planning and strategic development, said: "As a council, we are picking up the challenge from Whitehall to accelerate delivery of new homes to meet demand.
"Under our Local Plan we see a significant increase in our new-build to 1,800 homes per year. The plan also identifies more than 2,500 acres of land for housing – an area equivalent to around 2,600 football pitches.
"We have already been building houses at an increasing rate to help meet demand, with completions totalling 1,760 homes in 2016/17 – a four-fold increase on the figure for 2010/11. On top of that we have 400 sites currently under construction and current planning consent for more than 20,000 homes.
"I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the incredible hard work of our officers and members to successfully deliver a robust Local Plan for the people of Cheshire East."
Cheshire East's Local Plan includes provision for a housing requirement of at least 36,000 new homes and 380 hectares of development land, to reflect a stronger anticipated jobs growth rate of 0.7 per cent per annum.
The inspector endorsed all of the 60-plus strategic sites within the Local Plan, including larger-scale proposals, such as the North Cheshire Garden Village at Handforth where up to 1500 homes will be built.
Cheshire East's Local Plan allocates 900 new homes in Wilmslow and 2200 new homes in Handforth by 2030.
The proposals for Wilmslow are: 175 at Royal London (around 80 on land to the east of the existing campus, around 20 to the north of the existing campus and around 75 on land west of Alderley Road), 200 at Little Stanneylands and 150 at Heathfield Farm with 97 listed as being completed and 305 having already been committed by March 2016.
In Handforth the expected level of development is 2200 new homes, in addition to the 1500 at the North Cheshire Garden Village at Handforth, located off the A34 opposite Handforth Dean Retail Park, the plan includes 250 on land between Clay Lane and Sagars Road.
The Council's strategy includes making amendments to just under 2% of the borough's green belt land.
The document approved today is Part One of the Cheshire East Local Plan which allocates sites for development and employment land in the Key Service Centres (i.e. the main towns). Part Two of the Local Plan will deal with the Local Service Centres (of which Alderley Edge is one) and the first draft of the Site Allocations Development Policies Document is expected to be published by late September.
Councillor Craig Browne said "At this time, we should start to see which sites are proposed around Alderley Edge and whether there are going to be any adaptations to the green belt boundaries."
For further information about the Local Plan, recent consultations and links to key documents, visit the Cheshire East Council website.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.