Very low response to proposals for three new housing developments in Alderley Edge

Housebuilding 4

Cheshire East Council has announced that it is pleased with the public response to the Local Plan phase two, which identified smaller-scale sites for development in local service centres including Alderley Edge.

It says more than 2,700 people and organisations have voiced their views on the second phase of Cheshire East Council's Local Plan Strategy via the consultation process, which followed publication of the site allocations and development policies document (SADPD).

Looking through the comments a large number are from developers and land owners, many are generic and have been duplicated numerous times.

Only four comments were submitted regarding the proposals for three new housing developments in Alderley Edge from local residents, two of which are members of the Alderley Edge Neighbourhood Plan Group, along with comments from developers, Historic England, CPRE and the Environment Agency.

The purpose of the SADPD, which forms the second part of the council's Local Plan, is to set out detailed planning policies to guide decisions on planning applications as well as identifying additional smaller-scale sites for development.

The majority of development needs have already been provided for via the Local Plan Strategy, which came into force in July 2017. The SADPD identifies sites for development in Alderley Edge, Audlem, Bollington, Chelford, Disley, Holmes Chapel, Mobberley and Prestbury - which are generally sites of fewer than 60 homes or two hectares (five acres) in size.

In three sites allocated for development in Alderley Edge are:

Site ALD 1 - Land adjacent to Jenny Heyes The land adjacent to Jenny Heyes is allocated for residential development for around 10 new homes. This greenfield site is 0.47 ha in size and is located to the north east of Alderley Edge, on Heyes Lane.

Site ALD 2 - Ryleys Farm, north of Chelford Road The land at Ryleys Farm, north of Chelford Road is allocated for residential development for around 45 new homes. This greenfield site is 1.6 ha in size and is located to the west of Alderley Edge, north of Chelford Road.

Site ALD 4 - Land north of Beech Road The land north of Beech Road is allocated for residential development for around 35 new homes.This greenfield site is 2.9 ha in size and is located to the north of Alderley Edge, north of Beech Road.

Additionally safeguarded land is identified in Green Belt areas and may be required to meet longer-term development needs.

Land allocated for safeguarding in Alderley Edge is:

Site ALD 3 - Ryleys Farm (safeguarded) Land at Ryleys Farm is designated as 2.70 ha of safeguarded land. It remains in the open countryside and is not allocated for development at the present time.

A 'call for sites' took place between February and April 2017 when landowners, developers and other interested parties were invited to submit proposed sites for consideration.

The six-week consultation took place in August and September 2019 and a summary of the feedback received from the public can now be seen on the council's website.

Councillor Toni Fox, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for planning, said: "I am really pleased with the level of feedback we received, and it is important that we take the time to carefully consider all of the points made to us about the plan.

"The next step will be to decide later this year what amendments, if any, may be needed to the SADPD before its submission to the secretary of state for examination by an independent planning inspector.

"We do not rule out publishing changes to the plan for further public consultation prior to its submission."

The council's LPS document, formally adopted in July 2017, sets out the overall vision and planning strategy for the whole of the borough, covering economic, environmental, housing and social needs up to 2030.

Tags:
Local Plan, Site Allocations and Development Policies
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Comments

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

Pete Taylor
Thursday 25th June 2020 at 7:09 pm
Four greenfield sites designated for housing. Four comments from residents out of “more than 2700” replies; I realise that the local beast has many tentacles but that apathy on one hand and diligence on the other is astounding!


Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ‘till it’s gone.....
David Smith
Friday 26th June 2020 at 8:40 am
From the images shown above it is clear that the WRONG types of houses are still being erected and house builders are as ever getting away with building standards that are inept for the future of the planet. As long as the building regulations, GOVERNMENT [via out MP’s], planners and planning standards allow them to build for profit and not the planet's future this selfish and pig-ignorant approach to covering our countryside will continue.
For instance - NONE of the boxes depicted have solar panels on roofs that would be ideal as they have a good slope and could all face south if arranged. I also doubt that these houses have a rainwater collection system to feed the loos and outside taps. Such a system would reduce the water needs with lower water bills as well as lessening the demand for water provision on the water companies who have to find our water. We all assume that because it rains it somehow just ends up coming out of our taps when we want it.
I bet you that all these brick boxes have gas boilers and NO heat recovery systems for recycling the heat we all pour down our drains after using the shower, having a bath, washing our hands/teeth, chuck away via our washing machines and dishwashers or tip down the sink after boiling our potatoes! Some homes spend a chunk of money on heating systems that bury enormous lengths of pipe underground to remove heat that might only be a few degrees above zero and yet ignore the high temperature heat that we chuck away into the sewer on a daily basis.
The planners still allow commercial buildings to be constructed that are air-conditioned. Fine, you may say, if you work in one of them but the process of air conditioning is severely flawed in many installations and not fit for purpose. Heat is removed from the air inside a building and chucked outside instead of being stored for use when a hot tap is opened. So energy [electricity] is used to make cold air and remove the heat, then electricity/gas is consumed to heat the water that comes out of the hot tap. There is little joined up thinking in how our homes are provided with the energy we consume - all we do is complain about the size of our bills but never think to criticise the Muppets who have allowed our bricks & mortar investment to be built in the first instance.
The recent development of LED lighting means that fabulous lighting is possible for less energy consumption. LED lights typically operate with 12 volts. The lighting circuit in our houses is on a separate wiring system than the sockets and so could be powered by 12 volts instead of the usual 240 mains voltage. A modest solar panel could charge a battery [even a standard lead acid type that we have in our cars] which would feed the lighting circuit and so give us free energy for our lighting needs. It would be possible to convert existing homes for a system like this which is an energy saving recommendation we never hear about after the likes of double-glazing and loft/wall insulation.
I’m no expert on this sort of thinking but do appreciate there are clever people out there who ARE.
We all hear about having a target of becoming carbon neutral at some point in the NEAR FUTURE [= before it is too late] but NEVER think for one moment what we can do to help that target. It’s always got to be someone else hasn’t it? The only way we can ever save the planet is for ALL of us be forced to make a serious contribution.
As a simple example: if someone decides to install solar panels on their property [usually the roof] there is nothing in the planning regulations that offers protection and prevents a neighbour coming along to build a structure or extension that would lessen the solar energy falling on those panels.
So - how are you going to do your bit?
Keir Faulkner
Saturday 27th June 2020 at 12:18 pm
It seems crazy wanting to live in a home so far from the shops, with little or no transport links, bus or train services, give me Handforth any day
Dan Barnes
Sunday 28th June 2020 at 10:51 am
I would support all three sites for developing in Alderley if they provided well designed, energy efficient, sustainable housing with a good proportion of affordable options. If we are talking about private land being sold to private developers then this won't happen and it will be more of the same boxes that are currently being built on poorly developed sites.

All of the new build sites in Wilmslow have no affordable homes and are built to traditional methods with no energy efficiency, energy saving or sustainable methods. They always manage to demonstrate they won't make enough profit by showing figures to throw out any affordable housing (which they can) and means any energy efficiency or sustainability measures wouldn't even go through their mind at any point of the project.

It seems absurd that Cheshire East is going to be carbon neutral by 2025 when none of the housing being built is going to be fit for purpose now or in the immediate future. Unfortunately planning rules and building regs don't enforce what is required now and it will probably take years for government to change this.

It was recently announced by Cheshire East they are implementing a new framework so they have a say in what type of housing is being built on council owned land. Therefore council owned land has the best chance of providing housing that is fit for purpose so maybe they could buy some of the land proposed for development.

Small to medium builders and self-builders are the ones most likely to provide energy saving, efficient and sustainable housing that will also provide affordable options. This will give the Government a "Green recovery" it keeps talking about.
Jon Williams
Monday 29th June 2020 at 7:20 am
ALD1 is not suitable due to traffic/road danger/access
ALD2 is not suitable due to an increase in motor vehicles in a built up area with children from three schools in the area
ALD4 is a swamp in wet weather / winter
David Smith
Wednesday 1st July 2020 at 3:59 pm
Thanks Dan for commenting along the same lines as myself.
The Muppets who run our lives - Councillors, ALL at Cheshire East Council and our MP going all the way up to the Prime Minister (any past and future) - are continually demonstrating they don't have a clue about what 'Carbon Neutral', 'Green Energy' or 'Energy Efficiency' mean with respect to the brick boxes that the planners [whose salaries at Cheshire East come out of OUR council taxes] allow to be plonked in our surrounding countryside.
It has been announced today [01 July 2020] that 3 million Chinese persons who reside in a part of China known as Hong Kong will be allowed to come and live in the UK. Now whatever you may think of immigration and how lovely these Chinese citizens are, the fact is that however many of the 3m come here they will all need somewhere to live. On top of all the British people who may decide to return to the UK post Brexit and all the 'immigrants' who slip into the country undetected alongside all those who apply to be here under the legitimate asylum system and all those 'natives' of the UK who are homeless [or will soon be made homeless] there is obviously a housing crisis that will make the parking crisis in Wilmslow seem like a walk in the park - and I don't mean The Carrs!
I have been told there has been residing in Wilmslow someone from Singapore with the purpose of buying properties in our area - presumably for them to be made available to persons from that part of the world. I bet you it isn’t that easy for the likes of us to buy a property in Singapore. The housing crisis in London that has evolved over many years is about to spread to other areas that might be desirable and nice to live in - like south Manchester.
There are no regulations preventing all these houses of questionable energy efficiency - and any other property - being snapped up by non-UK residents. So just in case you think your children will be able to afford a home of their own one day then you should consider that it might only be possible if their bank of ‘Mumanddad’ has access to greater funds than at present. We have allowed a steady influx of foreigners to live here and enjoy our country but I think it is about time we had a rethink for a long time on the grounds of practicality otherwise we will see more of our countryside ‘going under’ and never coming back.
What do you think? Let us know before burying your head back in the sand!
Marcia McGrail
Thursday 2nd July 2020 at 9:56 am
Why isn't David the PM? We need people with such environmental intelligence, not just financial acumen (not the corporate porosity our leaders are displaying) if we are to deflect or prevent the environmental issues that, like the greedy, landsucking developers, blinkered councillors et al, are going to make us regret our apathy.
Money, as ever, talks louder than all the residents of Cheshire East.
John Featherstone
Friday 3rd July 2020 at 9:37 am
i totally agree with David smiths comments about people from Hong kong