Local residents in the Stanneylands area have come together to express their extreme disappointment that Cheshire East Council is proposing to build 200 properties on a site of "unspoilt green belt" which they consider to be a very important wildlife corridor and home to hundreds of species of wildlife.
Dr Nigel Stones who has lived in Carlton Avenue for almost 30 years is a passionate naturalist and keen birdwatcher who has been monitoring the birds, mammals and moths in the immediate environment for years. He has also performed surveys for the book 'Breeding Atlas of the Birds of Cheshire' whilst other members of the action group participate in the annual RSPB garden watch.
Dr Stones, a local GP and member of the Little Stanneylands & Dean Valley Neighbourhood Action Group, attended the Wilmslow Town Council meeting on Monday, 15th February, to request their support and ask them to make vigorous efforts to influence Cheshire East Council over their proposal to build 200 homes on the green belt site.
Dr Stones said "The action group are extremely disappointed by Cheshire East Council's proposal to develop this green belt site which only last year was regarded as making a significant contribution to the green belt, and to build 200 homes on the site when their (CEC's) 2013 SHLAA* suggested the site was only capable of accommodating 103 homes."
He told councillors that there are 48 species of birds which can be regularly seen at the site and he has recorded over 200 species of moths - including one which was a first record for Cheshire. The site is also home to mammals including foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and bats.
Dr Stones explained "The importance of wildlife corridors and eco buffer zones has become widely recognised, as has the detrimental effect on local wildlife when these are interrupted or damaged. Such a zone exists along the rear of the properties on Carlton Avenue, including the boundary of the paddock area of Little Stanneylands ad extending round to the garden centre."
Representatives from the Little Stanneylands and Dean Valley Neighbourhood Action Group are hoping to meet with the developer and Council before any detailed plans are prepared for the site and wishes to ensure that are planning permission, if granted, is subject to the creation of a eco buffer-zone which is legally enforceable and respects existing woodlands and hedgerows.
Dr Stones added "We have the opportunity to take action to preserve this zone, to protect local wildlife, and provide mitigation of the visual detriment caused by any permitted development. Such protection has potential for reducing opposition to the development."
Some councillors met with representatives from Little Stanneylands & Dean Valley Neighbourhood Action Group on Friday, 12th February.
Speaking about the meeting, Cllr Keith Purdom Chairman of Wilmslow Town Council said "We left your house committing to try and arrange a meeting with the developer. Matthew (Matthew Jackson, Town Clerk) is aware that his normal contact is going on maternity leave very soon so if she is available you may well get a meeting as early as next week to meet with them. I will be available if it is a time I am not working otherwise Matthew will attend and obviously any other councillor could attend."
*SHLAA - Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. This document identified potential housing sites and assessed whether these sites are developable, how many housing units could be accommodated on them and when they could be delivered.
The photos above are a selection of those taken by Dr Stones. Those showing a nuthatch, bullfinches, goldfinches, a fox and siskins were taken last week, whilst the photos of the clouded buff moth and habitat were taken during the summer and autumn months.
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Similarly, another site in Dean Row appears in the same document (as being non- preferred) is described as having "important natural features, protected trees, protected woodland and hedegrows, pond, presence of protected species is likely".
So, why have things changed between March 2014 and February 2016? Have all these features miraculously vanished?
There will soon be no Green Belt left in this area.
How is the infrastructure supposed to cope with all these proposed new dwellings? With an average of two cars per household, this proposal would bring another 400 cars to Stanneylands Road, which is still really a country lane, and can hardly cope with the traffic there is.
Dr Stone needs all the support he can get to stop this unnecessary development.
Jackie Pass can always be relied upon to recall history. Little Stanneylands and Heathfield Farm sites have both emerged from the depths of a previous version of the Local Plan and it is hard to recall these having been subject to public consultation.
What is so upsetting for neighbours of these sites is that they have only in recent times become informed of Cheshire East's plans to build here, information and unswerving support being supplied by Residents of Wilmslow (RoW).
Residents must take the opportunity provided by the promised public consultation and (if the proposal looks likely to go ahead as part of the Local Plan) they should try to influence details of the plans to limit the damage.
It is clearly now a cosy stich up between CEC and developers to build what they want, where they want.
our local councilors should do the decent thing and resign in protest.
Ps my phone just tried to auto correct "councilors" to "council lies". How apt.