Time running out to have your say on Local Plan

by Lisa Reeves

Tuesday 10^th December 2013

Tue 10^th Dec 2013

Residents have just six days left to have their say on the Local Plan before it is presented to the Planning Inspector.

The six week consultation on Cheshire East Council's draft Core Strategy ends of Monday, 16th December.

This is the last public consultation before the Council publishes the version of the document it will submit to the Secretary of State.

So far only 1,152 responses have been recieved to this consultation from 502 individuals. Of these 213 have been submitted by email, 83 by letter and 856 via the website.

Deputy Leader, Councillor David Brown, who oversees the Local Plan process said "Following this final round of consultation, we will publish the Core Strategy, inviting formal representations – and then submit those comments along with the document to the Secretary of State who will ask that the Core Strategy is examined by the Planning Inspectorate."

Documents can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council website or at any Cheshire East library or customer service point.

See my previous article 'Draft Core Strategy set to be approved for consultation' for information about the provisional strategic sites and safeguarded sites which have been identified in Wilmslow and Handforth for potential inclusion in the Local Plan Core Strategy.

Photo: Councillor David Brown, Deputy Leader of Cheshire East Council.

Tags:: Core Strategy, David Brown, Local Plan

Comments

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

Sonia Mitchell

Tuesday 10^th December 2013 at 7:43 pm

Be aware that any comments submitted on previous occasions will not be carried forward to the current consultation document. Therefore if you feel strongly about any of the proposals it is important that you submit your comments again. If you object to something it is important to use the word object, and be clear which part you are objecting to, especially if submitting comments by email.
Comments may be submitted online via the portal, by email to , or there are comment forms available at the library.

Pete Taylor

Wednesday 11^th December 2013 at 4:20 pm

28,000 comments already received in prior exercise; now not being considered? This is a strange form of democracy.

Fred Rayers

Friday 13^th December 2013 at 9:22 am

I submitted my comments via the website, unfortunately as difficult a process as one could ever hope to come across (and I work in IT). One does wonder if it is deliberately difficult in the hope people give up. If anyone has used the website note that it is critical to submit your comments, if left as draft they will not count. It is also important to select “object” rather than just “comment” if you think the plan should be changed. If you have not yet given comments i suggest that email is the easiest method, but as advised by one of the other commenter’s do clearly state “object” if you want the plan changed.

Manuel Golding

Friday 13^th December 2013 at 11:40 am

Fred Rayers above, rightly complains that Cheshire East's response portal website us "unfortunately as difficult a process as one could ever hope to come across (and I work in IT). One does wonder if it is deliberately difficult in the hope people give up."

A very disturbing point, borne out by complaints received by Residents of Wilmslow (RoW)..

As a result of these numerous complaints about the very difficult, cumbersome process, as outlined by Mr. Rayers, RoW lodged a complaint with the Council. We received the usual "not us, guv, honest" type of reply, as follows - "The Portal is hosted externally to Cheshire East Council and we are not aware that there are any problems with it at present." wrote a Policy Team Leader from The Spatial Planning team adding they had not received any phone calls or emails on the matter.

Well that's okay then, they are "not aware" of any problems; we've told them, they are not concerned, no offer to look into the problem raised. It could be that the planning Inspector will show more concern at the difficulties experienced by residents than the Council has.

It is vital that residents submit their views on the Core Strategy plans for Wilmslow by the end of forthcoming Monday, the 16th. If you are having difficulty send your response by email to

If you object to the proposals you must ensure you write OBJECT clearly against each segment. All household members may submit their individual response, irrespective of age.

Both Sonia Mitchell and Pete Taylor are right - previous comments to this exercise will not be counted, in fact they have, to a large extent, been ignored in the current Core Strategy. Hence sites such as those at Royal London, Prestbury Road, Upcast Lane and Adlington Road would not be in the current round of "public consultation". Therefore you will need to do it all over again. It is rather like a war of attrition, with the Council wearing down the peasants' resolve. The Council will undoubtedly claim, should this third "public consultation" not attract a high volume response, that the locals are not concerned. Such is the price of the democracy we live in!

Should you require a copy of Residents of Wilmslow's advisory response contact or