Whilst the Leader of Cheshire East Council admits mistakes were made with the Wilmslow Vision consultation he is adament that the outcome will represent a victory for the community.
In total 1,446 responses were received to the questionnaire, which he says have provided the Council with a very clear message - residents have voted overwhelmingly to save the Green Belt.
He said the revised plan is likely to provide for 400 to 500 new homes in Wilmslow by 2030, rather than the 1,500 put forward in the draft Wilmslow Vision. The suggestion that 1500 new homes would be built, largely on Green Belt land, proved the most controversial element of the draft plan and outraged local residents who formed campaign groups and set up petitions to protest against the proposals.
The responses to the questionnaire have now been analysed and were discussed with town councillors and a combined residents group last week.
At a meeting with Cllr Michael Jones today he told me "Nobody wants the Green Belt touched. We all agree with that but we have old people who want to downsize and families that need homes so of course there is a demand."
Wilmslow Town Council will now be working with representatives from local resident groups who will be making firm decisions on site allocation and have said they will realign the Vision with the strongly expressed views.
Cllr Jones was unable to confirm who these residents were but said "I am being told they are representative of all the substantial groups in Wilmslow."
He added "We will then know whether these sites will be Brownfield or Green Belt sites. Cheshire East supports Brownfield over Green Belt but we need to be realistic.
"Green Belt is not negotiable, it is sacrosanct in Cheshire East. Any intrusion into it must be planned, sustained, very very open and replenished elsewhere."
The final decisions need to be made soon as the Town Council plan to have the revised document completed by mid-November.
There will be no further consultation on the Vision document which will then feed in to the Local Plan – which will guide the development of all Cheshire East towns, villages and countryside up to 2030.
Cllr Jones said "I will attend those meetings personally. I'm waiting for an invitation from the Town Council. I would love to come to the sub-group meetings and move things forward."
He added "The reality has got to be robust and I want to get as much involvement from the residents of Cheshire East as we can as I think we have got a lot to learn from them."
The draft vision document is still available to download from the Cheshire East Council website where the comments received during the consultation period can also be viewed.
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Cllr Jones was unable to confirm who these residents were but said "I am being told they are representative of all the substantial groups in Wilmslow."...
So, the leader of CEC does not know who these folks are (neither do we; the people) but "they" are making "firm decisions".
To offer a short answer to the question raised above. When the Wilmslow Vision Consultation was first published, there was a mixed response. Some, as is usual, were apothetic, some took the view "It will not affect me therefore I'm not bothered" and some were alarmed at the prospect of Wilmslow loosing Green Belt to development.
As a result a number of people in and around the areas with earmarked Green Belt sites were very alarmed. As is usual, no one was doing anything about protecting these sites. However, it appeared that some residents of the affected lands decided, totally independently & without coordination, to set up meetings of local residents.
Thereby numerous public meetings were held in various localised venues & attended by hundreds of concerned residents, all at very short notice. These meetings showed the level of deep concern at the prospect of Wilmslow's Green Belt being carved up by developers.
There were at least six totally independent meetings held around the town for the concerned local residents. The groups were in Fulshaw Park, Dean Row, Upcast/Cumber Lane,Welton Drive/Chesham Road, Harefield and Thorngrove areas.
It was very soon decided that these six groups of very concerned residents should come together to act as one voice, one strong lobby group for the protection of our town's Green Belt. The unified groups would now work under the banner of Residents Of Wilmslow (RoW). Each area group is responsible for keeping its own neighbours informed, a number of groups have now built up email lists of its local residents; this makes ease of communication that much easier.
A number of benefits have ensued as a result of a unified voice via RoW. One was a large gathering of residents from across the town in the Leisure Centre in late April. Another has been to gain the attention of CEC - it now listens to our, the concerned residents, disquiet over the Green Belt issue, to our views & suggestions.
RoW has been thanked by the Leader of CEC, Cllr Michael Jones, for the "fantastic" response to the Consultation, we motivated the town to answer the Questionairre and you did with the largest number of returns anywhere in Cheshire East - it would quite simply not have happened without a few very concerned & worried residents getting off their proverbials, pointing out their concerns & consequences to their local neighbourhoods, instead of sitting back waiting for "someone to do something".
RoW does not profess to represent a whole strata of Wilmslow's residents, we are what we say we are, Residents Of Wilmslow, - it is concerned with protecting the town's Green Belt and this it will continue to fight for.
In the meantime, if anyone wishes to ask RoW questions, they may do so via .
Really? I'm so pleased to hear that. Wasn't Michael Jones the Portfolio Holder when the Council began to build themselves a waste transfer station on Green Belt land at Lyme Green. So, what makes one piece of Green Belt land sacrosanct and another fair game? Answers please Mr Jones.