Local Plan: Wilmslow Town Council opposes latest recommendations

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Wilmslow Town Council disagrees with some of the recommendations in the latest Local Plan document, confirming that their overarching principles are defending open green space against unnecessary short term development and opposing housing development of Green Belt.

At their meeting on Monday, 18th November, town councillors considered the draft Core Strategy, which residents are currently being consulted on, and approved the following response.

"Wilmslow Town Council believes that the site adjacent to Adlington Road, and safeguarded for development for the duration of the latest Macclesfield Local Plan, should be retained as open space until at least 2025 in that land is not required in the short term to satisfy the housing requirements for Wilmslow. Wilmslow Town Council believes that a brownfield first policy should be actively pursued and that this would satisfy total housing needs during much of the period of the proposed Local Paln.

"The latest version of the Core Strategy highlights an area in Wilmslow sandwiched between the A34 and the main railway line. Wilmslow Town Council during its construction of the Wilmslow Town Strategy, which helped in the formation of the current document, identified land to the rear of the Royal London site as the most appropriate area for employment development. Wilmslow Town Council has always, and continues to believe that any development on the Royal London site should be solely for employment use and not for mixed use as highlighted in the latest version of the Core Strategy.

"Wilmslow Town Council believes that the Royal London site provides sufficient employment use land, resulting in there being no need to consider the Green Belt site between the A34 and the railway line which would increase ribbon style development along the A34 corridor.

"Wilmslow Town Council challenges the need for safeguarded sites in the plan and the extent of the safeguarded sites identified in the latest version of the plan which it considers to be excessive. The consultation process in establishing this provision of safeguarded land has been inadequate to satisfy local opinion."

To summarise, Cllr Christopher Dodson said "Adlington Road should be developed only after 2025, the Royal London site should be for employment use only and the Green Belt land adjacent to the A34/railway should be removed from the plan as a development site."

He added "The need for safeguarded land is challenged, the extent of land safeguarded is excessive in terms of size and location and the consultation process for identifying safeguarded sites has been adequate."

The above response was approved unanimously by Wilmslow Town Council, although Cllr Philip Enstone, who represents the Residents of Wilmslow (RoW) did not agree with the statement in its entirety.

He said "The majority of what has been talked about we support, but we still disagree that the Adlington Road site is required by 2025. We don't need to build on it period until we have sorted out all the brownfield sites so from our point of view that still stands."

The current six week consultation on the Pre-Submission Core Strategy runs until December 16th 2013. The documents can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council website or at any Cheshire East library or customer service point.

Tags:
Core Strategy, Local Plan, Wilmslow Town Council
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Comments

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

Kathryn Blackburn
Tuesday 19th November 2013 at 3:07 pm
At last WTC are starting to get the message. CEC are however a different animal. They refuse to consider the many, many specific points made by RoW as well as material matters raised during the consultation process which could indicate unsoundness of the Core Strategy. This would in relation to specific allocations include consideration of whether the process whereby sites were chosen and others said to be more appropriate rejected was satisfactory. Marks for listening WTC. But could do better. A blanket No to development of the greenfield site that is Adlington Road please. Brownfield Building only.

Our thanks to Cllr Enstone.
Brian McGavin
Thursday 28th November 2013 at 1:36 pm
Saving our Greenbelt and Local Plans
By Brian McGavin, Wilmslow

It is hard to know what Cheshire East and Wilmslow Town Council is up to in their ever-shifting consultation on a Local Plan. It is becoming a war of attrition.

Wilmslow and Handforth residents have been overloaded already trying to follow the plans and the council has largely ignored the constructive concerns of residents about building on greenbelt land, when many brownfield sites are available.

Our leafy suburbs are facing a growing ring of development, as Manchester, Cheshire East and Stockport set out their cement agendas. The new Airport City and a further 96 acres of greenbelt at the M56 junction with Wilmslow Road, to build more offices for airport growth, will add to growing congestion.

A report in 2011 by the Campaign to Protect Rural England found that many of these projects actually involved displacing existing jobs from elsewhere in the area.

The airport growth predictions also fly in the face of major oil energy decline in a few years as global demand outstrips supply and precious farmland we will need to grow more local food is set to be cemented over.

Proposals for a Handforth East township of 2,300 houses next to the Total Fitness leisure centre and the bypass, presented as a win for Wilmslow, will destroy the last open view we have to the Pennine Hills. Handforth is intimately connected and until recently, part of Wilmslow. Residents are rightly concerned about such a large development.

Stockport plans to build over 800 houses and supporting infrastructure on the old Woodford airport, east of Wilmslow and the Waters business park underway on the congested Wilmslow - airport road will impact on a gateway country landscape into the town and drive more traffic congestion.

Rural land east of the A34 bypass and off Prestbury Road, which offer the last open views from the town to Alderley Edge have now been pushed into development plans by Cheshire East. Farmland between the Royal London offices and the Wilmslow bypass has been ‘safeguarded’ for yet more ‘commercial development, as greater Wilmslow’s growing urbanisation continues. A campaign sign around Macclesfield rightly points out the irony in ‘Greenbelt land, Safeguarded for Developers’.