Handforth will be given more than £21 million to provide infrastructure for The North Cheshire Garden Village.
The £21.7 million will be spent on road improvement works, utilities update and remediation for the site which is bordered by the A34 to the west and the A555 (Manchester Airport Eastern Link Road) to the north.
Subject to receiving planning approval, the new village will provide 1,675 new residential properties. This will include a range of housing types and tenure; including affordable and starter homes, family houses, apartments and bungalows suitable for older people.
The development will also include employment land and a village centre with shops, pub, restaurants, etc. Other new facilities will include a primary school, children's day nursery, sports facilities, and a village hall.
The cash injection – the second in as many months – was announced today (Wednesday, 13th March, by Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Spring Statement to Parliament. Last month the Government awarded Handforth £150,000 to help develop plans for the new garden village and get the site ready for development.
Tatton MP Esther McVey said: "This is a fantastic amount of money and is vital to ensure infrastructure is in place. I have had meetings in recent weeks with governemnt officials and Local Government Secretary James Brokenshire about this and stated house building while inevitable cannot happen without the right provision and infrastructure in place and this money will go a long way to ensuring that happens. I am delighted James Brokenshire listened and realised money was needed now for this scheme."
Housing Minister Kit Malthouse said: "I am pleased to confirm we will be supporting the North Cheshire Garden Village Handforth Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid for £21.7 million. This is one of the successful HIF Forward Funding projects we have announced, part of a £5.5 billion fund to drive the delivery of new homes through infrastructure investment. All successful HIF forward funding bids are subject to bespoke conditions, which we will be discussing with the local authority."
The funding bid was submitted by Cheshire East Council.
Comments
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Also, the cost of anti-depressant medication required for townsfolk who, having endured the traffic chaos caused by the SEMMS road building programme, can now look forward to much more of the same over the next ten years.
Well, at least the 6000 or so homeless people in Handforth will have something to smile about!
The money will be most welcome of course and is necessary to hopefully moderate housing costs. Sadly I fear they will sell to commuters into Greater Manchester. Perhaps a few will head south along the A34, but I doubt it.
If they do, then where will they park? A bus service? A walk to the station?
Ask your MP.
You have hit the nail on the head. While I welcome government funding to help soften the blow of yet another needless housing scheme I despair as to how the £21.7M is to be allocated - where is the infrastructure funding for education, health, leisure, nursery, park and ride, air quality improvements, etc etc? There is absolutely no emphasis on infrastructure provision that is forward thinking and aimed at improving residents daily lives. At the same time there is no determination to safeguard our town centres that are day by day becoming dormitories for the Manchester Conurbation by the adoption of such schemes.
The £22 million is essential to create the infrastructure that 1650 new homes require. Claiming it’s some sort of windfall from central government is merely an effort to make yet more building appear less contentious.
I would like to know who is eligible to buy these houses? Can someone who is not a UK citizen snap up as many as they want and then do with them as they wish - leave them empty as an investment? Rent them out to other non-UK citizens? We all think this sort of housing development is going to help with providing homes for UK citizens - you know, YOUR children!
With 1,675 homes - how many of them will have cars wanting to park in Wilmslow centre? Will there be a bus service every 30 minutes into town - or anywhere else for that matter?
Will any of the houses come with solar panels as standard or rainwater collection systems? If not, what has our planning department been doing to drive forward a more sustainable way of living?