Jones Homes have submitted a planning application for a residential development at Adlington Road.
The Alderley Edge based developer held two consultation sessions in November, where 140 viewed the emerging plans for a development of 218 homes on land to the north of Adlington Road.
These plans have since been revised and permission is now being sought to build for 203 dwellings on the 10 ha site on the north eastern edge of Wilmslow. The scheme includes the demolition of outbuildings, open space, highways works and associated infrastructure.
The public consultation has not only led to a reduction in the number of houses on the development. Further analysis of the traffic impact has also been carried out, amendments have been made to the position and number of affordable houses near Browns Lane, some of the properties have been moved further away from the boundary near Overhill Drive, and a cycle link through Browns Lane recreational area has been added.
The greenfield site, which has most recently been used for grazing and clay extraction, has been safeguarded for development in the Wilmslow and Macclesfield versions of the Local Plan for the last 25 years and has now been identified in the council's draft Core Strategy as a strategic site which could deliver 225 homes.
The proposed development will provide a mix of detached and mews homes which are predominantly two storey, the existing recreation ground will be enhanced, access to the recreation ground will be improved and the public right of way across the site will be maintained in its current position. Of the proposed houses 30% will be affordable, 65% of which will be available to rent.
There are two Tree Protection Orders (TPO) on the site. The development will result in the loss of some protected trees and it is proposed to compensate this by way of mitigation planting.
The plans can be viewed on the Cheshire East Council website by searching for planning reference 14/0007M.
The last date for submitting comments is 6th February and a decision is expected to be made at a meeting of the Strategic Planning Board on 5th March.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
Schools that are local to this site are already oversubscribed, including Wilmslow High with its newly announced extensions to class years taken into account. Where will these families send their children to be educated ? Where will the children from the other proposed development sites be educated. The schools are not yet built.
There is no Health Centre within walking distance of this site. There are no new Health Centres that will be up and running to deal with the new influx from this and the other proposed housing developments at Handforth East and Woodford.
The evidence for local housing need was based on out of date information and was limited in its scope. The Data was updated after the sites had already been chosen.
The Road Safety Accident figures used by Jones Homes's agent to justify an entrance off Adlington Road were for the years 2008 to 2012. A four year period only which reveal average figures for road safety and yet Jones Homes still feel it necessary to pay for a reduction in speed to 30 mph on the road. There have been three deaths on this road in thirty years and many more accidents requiring passenger/driver hospitalisation. This was the primary reason Barratt Homes were refused planning consent on two separate applications over a ten year period. and for only approximately 75 houses not 203.
In short our council is about to overload our already weakened local services to achieve a short term goal through a flawed and rushed-out Local Plan. What an achievement.
Disgusted of Wilmslow.
The above consultations allowed the residents of this town the chance to offer their views on where new homes should be built. The published results of the first two consultations showed that the vast majority of respondents did not wish to see any new developments on green fields of any kind. Interestingly, the highest figure of 85% of all respondents said that they did not agree with the development of the ‘safeguarded’ land on Adlington Road now under threat from Jones Homes.
There are many reasons why this site should be retained as Safeguarded land and not built on. The Wilmslow Town Council themselves agree with their electorate and have proposed that its ‘safeguarded’ status remains as such until 2025. It will be interesting to see whether Cheshire East Council concur with their Wilmslow Town Council colleagues when the final deliberations on Local Plan are revealed next month!
Meanwhile, Councillor Philip Enstone, the only independent member on the Wilmslow Town Council and representing ‘Residents of Wilmslow’ is leading a hardworking group of residents determined to ensure no new building is built on any green field sites in the town.
But let’s look at the Jones Homes proposals for Adlington Road. They were submitted to Cheshire East on December 13th and curiously it took one month for the application to be posted on the CEC website. Wilmslow’s Town Clerk and Councillors were also unaware of its earlier submission.
The application plans contain plenty of tasty morsels for an astute QC to get his teeth into. Traffic volumes on Adlington Road are too high already: there are regular traffic jams every day, in particular at the roundabouts at each end of the road. This problem will be hugely compounded by the thousands of extra cars coming from the proposed development two miles away in Woodford. A new traffic survey and model needs to be undertaken by an independent agency to assess the impact of the Woodford effect!
Quite apart from the traffic survey failing to take into consideration the 850 homes planned for Woodford Aerodrome a further flaw is allowing access on to Browns Lane. The lane is currently closed to through traffic with bollards at its northern end on the perimeter of the Summerfields estate.
The lane is barely wider than a single track thoroughfare. Following a residents petition over twenty years ago the lane was closed then to through traffic. Several accidents had been recorded and a small child was knocked off her bike and injured. Councillor Crockett officiated for the residents of Dean Row and the lane became a pleasant pedestrianized byway to the sports fields and play park beyond.
The southern end of Browns Lane and its offshoot single track Cross Lane are currently used morning and night as a ‘rat run’ by motorists held up short of the roundabout at the junction of Adlington Road and Dean Row Road. Several accidents have occurred on Cross Lane and an earlier request to the Council for ‘sleeping policemen’ to be introduced demonstrates residents’ concerns.
If Browns Lane is opened from Dean Row Road in the north to Adlington Road in the south all the cars from the 700 homes on the Summerfields estate will be using this lane as a short cut. Browns Lane is also home to the Dean Row Village Hall. The hall has no car park.
Almost daily there are cars parked reducing the lane to a single track. Opening the lane up to through traffic would be planning madness!
Local residents have made the strength of their feeling about the Adlington Road ‘safeguarded’ site known to their local politicians, including the Head of Cheshire East, Michael Jones, who in a meeting at the Village Hall in May 2012, told the 100+ people gathered there that there would be no development in Dean Row during the period of the plan.
The plan involves the loss of an important green, open space in Wilmslow. It is an area of natural beauty. This is not necessary, as alternative brownfield sites exist which are sufficient to deliver the necessary housing for Wilmslow to 2030 at least. Brownfield first is a key aspect of local and national planning policy.
The land is prime agricultural land, currently used for grazing of sheep.This land should therefore not be destroyed for housing, in line with Government policy on agricultural land.
The plan involves the destruction of several trees, including several that have TPOs on them. This is not acceptable: no trees should be destroyed, especially TPO trees. There are bats which live in these trees: they are often seen flying on summer evenings.
.
The bridge over the River Bollin is weak and narrow. It cannot cope with the extra traffic. There is a dangerous junction on a blind corner onto Wilmslow Park North. This will be made even more dangerous by the extra traffic. Access to the site should only be a "give-way" t-junction onto Adlington Road only. There should be absolutely no access via Brown's Lane.
The site has very poor transport links to Wilmslow and the surrounding area. There are no bus links. Cycling into Wilmslow is difficult: it is too dangerous to cycle across the bridge on Adlington Road. As part of the plans, there should be provision of a cycle path from the development into Wilmslow town centre.
There are insufficient school places already in Wilmslow. This plan makes no provision for additional school places.
The development would involve the subsuming of the hamlet of Dean Row into an urban sprawl, expanding from the Summerfields Development. This is contrary to planning policy. Dean Row has suffered hugely by absorbing the vast majority of new housing in Wilmslow over the last 20 years. Development should take place in more appropriate brownfield sites closer to the centre of Wilmslow, not the destruction of yet another greenfield site in Dean Row.
The positioning of the affordable housing is still completely inappropriate, as it is currently placed directly next to existing houses on both the west and east sides of the site. Existing housing should have regular houses next to them, to avoid a mismatch of housing densities with the existing area. The affordable housing should be placed within the confines of the new development.
Finally residents should know that there are 200 of the 400 homes required in the Local Plan already in the planning pipeline. These have planning permissions and comprise new build on brownfield sites and windfall sites. These have been logged in the first three years of the Local Plan. There are seventeen years to go and by the simplest law of averages the 400 homes target will be attained before 2030 without having to build one single house on green fields.
You can have your own say by commenting on this queue jumping planning application via the Cheshire East Council web site or by attending the next Wilmslow Town Council Planning meeting at 7.30 pm on Monday 27th January 2014.
Please remind me - when are the council elections!!
This says it all!!
I know who i would back to win this battle. !!....... and unfortunately it wouldn't be a winning bet for common sense and protecting the communities concern to protect the country side..
Why do the "Brownfield" options continue to be ignored?
This is for wholly commercial purposes.... making serious money from luxury developments not from first time buyers.
I applaud sensible development but isn't it about time some of the brown field locations / empty shops are converted to residential use before the countryside is ruined any further ? Independent councillors have there work cut out here... but come the next elections I am sure RoW will make there concerns well known.
Answer - £3 million
Says it all really about the relationship between a council and a developer!
The link to the Daily Telegraph contained within that piece also makes very interesting reading.
I was one of those people who heard the Head of Cheshire East make the promise about no development on this site. I wonder if he any comments to make now to explain how he is going to refuse this application?
When exactly did these "mews homes" have stables in their ground floor?
This is just spin to make the high density terrace housing sound more appealing. It is more weasel words from a dodgy industry and undemocratic process.