Local residents are being encouraged to have their say on a six-week consultation which will contribute to the discussion on how insurance giants Royal London continue plans to develop at their Wilmslow campus.
The Royal London site is proposed as a strategic site allocation in the Local Plan, for 175 new homes and 5 ha of employment land. The Local Plan also which promotes the removal of the current campus, together with land to the east and land to the west of Alderley Road, from the Green Belt.
The ambition is to develop the site as a 'living campus', to create a thriving environment for business, as well as opportunities for living and relaxing.
The proposed development framework will help to shape future planning applications for a variety of uses and activities within the site, including additional office space, housing, improved transport links and a wide range of amenities including a hotel and restaurant.
Royal London was granted planning consent last year for a modern replacement for Royal London House, the main office facility for the company.
Councillor Ainsley Arnold, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for housing and planning, said: "Royal London already employs more than 1,200 people at its Wilmslow headquarters and is a key employer in the town. This framework provides the opportunity to bring more and better employment opportunities to the area.
"I strongly encourage Cheshire East residents, not just those in Wilmslow, to get involved in the consultation process and have a say in shaping this discussion."
The consultation will run from Friday June 23 to Friday August 4. There will also be a consultation drop-in event at Wilmslow Leisure Centre from 2pm-7pm on Tuesday July 4, where planning officers will be on hand to answer questions from the public.
Printed copies of the development framework will be available from the libraries in Wilmslow and Alderley Edge.
Once finalised, the Royal London development framework will be used to inform decisions on future planning applications on the site.
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
They have long ago decided what they want & what they will do - the anxious public is just a necessary thorn for them to cast aside as nothing more than a temporary inconvenience We must discount the broken promises for the RL sites by CEC leadership, backed by our former MP; I wonder why I am becoming a cynic?l
There is no guarantee Royal London will stay in Wilmslow. I have it on insider authority that one of the elements the company is looking at is "public transport" - Wilmslow has the Manchester-Macclesfield once an hour 130 bus, the Altrincham-Knutsford hourly 88 bus and that's it. Oh and the trains to Manchester & Crewe onward. I also understand the company is looking at two other sites which have greatly enhanced public transport.
So all added up, we are being used to create a greatly enhanced value to the RL site so that the company can sell at a enhanced valuation ..........and move elsewhere. We are left to pick up the societal cost & disadvantages.
Based on no. of total employees or just those living within 10 miles of Wilmslow?
I have certain knowledge that Private Eye magazine are very interested in this matter.
So, Cllr. Menlove, please could you explain your actions?
This is another stitch up job - remember "no infill" - and Royal London are not being honest and they have been caught out more than once being "economical" with the truth. If any thing this land should be used to correct some of the highways failures at the roundabout and the rest used for a sixth form college especially as the recent change in law and the selectivity of our non-selective school at age 16 provide no local facilities for the compulsory continuation of education locally for those without a place at the bursting at the seams high school.
It is extremely regrettable that the entire site is removed from the Green Belt but as the Planning Inspector noted, Wilmslow is constrained by greenbelt. There needs to be a balance here between the Campus benefits of the planned open spaces and shared uses plus the reality of retaining this major employer. Do not forget that planning permission was given last year for a new office block (16/2314m) for at least 1500 staff on a 5.73ha parcel of land adjacent to the railway line in the knowledge it is in greenbelt. Even though the site is close to the town centre, the potential development will be largely unnoticed by all but a few local residents.
As to the comment from Pete Taylor, let me clarify that I voted in Council for the Local Plan to go to consultation. I moved an amendment that the land to the west of the RL site be excluded but the majority councillors voted against. I do not understand his comment of 'repeatedly' but Mr Taylor must keep detailed records so he can clarify. A mere handful of residents have
contacted me about RL but since the balance of the 3,100+ voters have not, I conclude that I am not acting against their wishes.
I have offered to meet Mr Taylor repeatedly for full and frank discussions on all the issues that are of concern to him but to date he has yet to accept. He is a ward constituent of Wilmslow East living in Fulshaw Park. It is a great pity that there is an apparent unwillingness to discuss these important issues face to face.
Mr Worthington appears to know me but I must confess that if I have met him, he made no lasting impression. He may or may not be a constituent in Wilmslow East but he can clarify. I brush aside his insults and extend the same invitation as to Mr Taylor to meet and discuss issues of concern.
Who knows, they may care to join together and I look to them to suggest a time and place of their chosing.
So excited about quality urbanisation!
Jackie Pass - can you help with your comment on another thread "CE is buying land in the North to replenish their stocks". I have been assured that this is not the case and would appreciate the details/sources from you so that I can refer back to CE for clarification.
the sports pitches been removed from the Green Belt along with the rest of site CS26? I hope that you can refer me to the person who can clarify.
As to your question I would like to concentrate upon this clarification because of its urgency.
Any questions needing clarification will be possible at the "drop-in" session at WLC on 4 July 2pm-7pm. I would strongly encourage you, not only to go but to take notes of your exchanges.
You asked for the CEC contact for earlier questions on the status of various CS and that is Adrian Fisher whose contact details can be found on the CEC website.
Please come back to me soonest on the "buying land" matter.
Your comment about only a handful of residents contacting you about The Royal London green belt is, frankly, fatuous- you must surely be aware of the thousands of people who have objected to incursions into the green belt in the many surveys, from the "Wilmslow Vision" onwards- how many of them were for removal? Approximately none.
pockets of the site owners as greenbelt land value is pushed into land for
development, seeing a huge increase in value for the owners. Further
development is planned after removing the greenbelt obstacle.
The plans destroy greenbelt, Grade 1 farmland, the last open view to Alderley hill and will increase already worsening traffic gridlock in the area. Apart from a plan to increase road width at the site entrance to the roundabout, no thought has gone into this issue.
More speculative office development with potentially another hotel - there
are already nine in the greater Wilmslow area, is NOT needed when there is
already over supply locally. A demolition and rebuild of the beautifully landscaped Royal London HQ will trash an iconic building in the Wilmslow landscape. The development, if any
should be much smaller scale on the existing site.
How on earth does this vandalism offer, as the developers claim: "A modern-knowledge business requirement to attract a high calibre of staff"? Does the current HQ building not attract high calibre staff? This is sheer developer twaddle!
People have until 4 August to contact Cheshire East Planning. Please do so!
http://bit.ly/2vicScb
At the top of the feedback questions is a link to the Draft development Framework document.
The agricultural fields to the West of Alderley Road are not part of the existing "Campus" and certainly will not be if they are built on- they are being sold off for development purely to fund the speculative development on the existing Royal London site. These fields are hardly mentioned in the Framework Document and in the small space section 4.2 which does mention them most of the words are about the land to the East!
This is the only bit of green space between the Wilmslow border and the town; it would be a tradgedy if yeat another look-alike Adlington Road development were to become our "Welcome to Wilmslow" from the South.
To fill in the comments on the linked survey will take ten minutes of your time, please take that time.
end of the "consultation".